


Lost Causes and Broken Dreams

by eng050599



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Discussion of Abortion, Drug Use, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hybrids, Interspecies Relationship(s), Medical, Medical Procedures, Medical Professionals, Other, Pain, Relationship(s), Science, Smoking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 15:18:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 214,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7939489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eng050599/pseuds/eng050599
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Honeywell Genetic Counselling Centre is one of the most advanced research facilities in Zootopia. It was the product of the failed hopes of two of Zootopia’s pioneers in genetic therapies, and their last gift to their city. They were an interspecies couple, who yearned for a child of their own. Genetics is not kind however, and outside of a very narrow range, these pairings invariably lead to sorrow. </p><p>     This is a story of pain, loss, but maybe some hope. Then again, hope is the cruelest joke played on the desperate. </p><p>     In case you haven’t noticed this isn’t going to be a very happy story. Consider yourself warned. Blame u/WildeNick on Reddit for prodding me into writing this first bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Bastion to False Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: November 15th, 2017. I've updated this chapter with some new artwork by TheWinterBunny. Be sure to check out her Deviant Art page, and please consider donating to her GoFundMe.

**“Honeywell Genetic Counselling Centre”**

The words were emblazoned above the entrance of the small building adjacent to Zootopia General Hospital. It was much more contemporary than the hospital itself, having been built barely 10 years previously. Its design was one of glass and steel, brightly lit from all sides. Cars were already filtering into the parking lot, as the staff and first patients of the day started filtering in. The night shift would be wrapping up their rounds and leaving shortly, but there was still a few minutes before he needed to head inside.

Standing across the parking lot, a white wolf in a lab coat takes a deep draw from a cigarette, and stares at the entrance. Even from here he can see the bright pastel colours that adorn the walls of the reception area. All of it was a lie though, the Centre wasn’t a place of healing or of happiness. It was a place of broken dreams and misplaced hope.

Ostensibly the Centre was a specialized maternity ward; one that worked in concert with the main ward in the hospital proper. The truth was that its purpose rarely yielded the joy present in the main unit. The cases that came here were very different. They only dealt with interspecies couples, and the hybrids that those unions gave rise to on occasion. Although some species could interbreed, for most interspecies couples, having children was a fantasy at best, and a nightmare at worst. The Centre only dealt with the latter; couples from compatible pairings were welcomed at the main hospital.

The wolf flicked the cigarette away and considered the path that had brought him here.

The Centre was a gift from the late Drs. David Honeywell and his wife Elena. Dr. Honeywell had been the founder and CEO of Panacea Pharmaceuticals, and had made his fortune developing a method for rapidly altering delivery vectors for different species, thus allowing for drugs to be effectively targeted to a variety of mammals. The technology had changed Zootopian pharmacology almost overnight, and had also made Dr. Honeywell one of the richest individuals in the world.

Money as they say, cannot buy you happiness, and the tale of the Honeywells proved this more than most. The Honeywells were an interspecies couple, a wolf and an arctic fox. As with many couples, they longed to have children of their own, but genetics is a harsh mistress. All the money in the world couldn’t make up for the incompatibilities between the two’s fundamental makeup, although they had fought tooth and claw against it.

They invested billions into gene therapies, viral transformation vectors, DNA editing techniques, synthetic genome assembly, and targeted mutagenesis. Each of these represented huge leaps from the previous techniques, but in the end their reach exceeded their grasp. Not willing to risk others for their wish, they had attempted to use a novel editing technique to alter their own gametes into ones that would permit them to have the one thing they wanted most.

The cancers had killed them in less than six months.

With no living heirs, the entirety of their somewhat depleted fortune was granted in trust to Zootopia General for the development of the Centre, so that the research would continue, and for 10 years it had.

“ _Not that any of the research had saved even a single hybrid from incompatible species in that time.”_ he thought grimly. It was one of the best funded facilities in history, yet it had failed every one of its charges. The only success stories they had to date were in helping couples from compatible pairings who were experiencing difficult pregnancies or minor genetic issues.

He had joined the Centre some six years prior. It was his first posting after completing his residency training along with his dissertation on the genetic basis for cytoplasmic incompatibility in Lagomorphs. It was the research aspect that was the only reason he stayed. Somewhere deep inside he still held on to some delusion that he might be able to help at least one of his patients. There was also the little fact that if he left, the Centre would be down another physician, and it would stay that way as well. No sane person would work in a place like this. Doctors were driven to help patients and save lives...and this facility contributed very little towards these goals.

The wolf’s eyes drifted to the crematorium built into the back of the facility itself. The designers had known that it was a losing battle. It was the only facility he had ever worked in that had such a setup, and also the only one that seemed to possess an infinite supply of small boxes and urns, which were filled all too regularly.

The wolf looked up to see another lab coated mammal walk out of the front doors and head in his direction. The antelope waved tiredly at him, and he returned the gesture.

“Long night Jim?” the wolf asked as the other doctor pulled a cigarette out of the front pocked of his shirt.

“It always is Dave, it always is.” Jim replied while lighting his cigarette and taking a quick puff.

“A doctor smoking in the parking lot!” Dave spoke with feigned distress. “Whatever will the patients think? You’re setting a bad example.”

“I can’t help but notice you were out here first.” Jim said with short chuckle escaping from his mouth.

“Touché, my friend.” The wolf dipped his head as he spoke, acknowledging the friendly jibe. “Anything I should know about before I head in?”

“Ms. Falson miscarried last night, as we expected.” Jim’s voice took on an almost mechanical tone as he listed off the events from the previous evening. “Ms. White’s ultrasound showed no fetal heartbeat, but she’s refusing to believe it. She’ll either miscarry sometime in the next 24 hours, or we’ll have to go in and remove it before she goes septic. I’ll need you to back me if we have to do it against her wishes Dave.”

“You know I will, and Catherine will as well. You know that.” Dave replied sadly, starting to walk towards the entrance. “Anything else?”

“The Clawsons are due in at 10:00.”

Dave stopped and looked back, trying to see if this was a joke, but Jim’s face still had that clinical expression that said he was being completely serious. “Shit!” he cursed softly. “This is what, their 5th time here?”

“Their 6th actually.” The antelope replied. “There was one previous pregnancy before you started here.”

“ _Well today is going to suck._ ” he thought ruefully. “How far along is she?” he asked.

“About six weeks from her file. That is farther along than any of her previous pregnancies.” Jim continued on. “They didn’t have any exams before now however, so I have no idea how things look”

“So she’s almost full term? Well I guess there’s always hope.” Dave spoke quietly, although in his head a different thought was forming _“…and that glimmer of hope is the cruelest joke of them all.”_

He turned back to the Centre and walked in through the doors. It was time to set aside his emotions for another day, and give more parents the worst news possible. He walked through the reception area and stopped at the nurse’s station to grab the patient’s charts. He flipped through the files, and noted the ones that would almost certainly be lost causes.

**Debbie and Michael Pandel** : A zebra couple from Savanah Square.

_“Wait, why are they here?”_ he thought to himself. _“Hybrids between Grevi’s and Plains Zebras were genetically compatible. The hybrids even had a high chance of being fertile themselves. This was a case that should be over at Zootopia General.”_

He flipped through the rest of the chart, and found the reason.

“That cowardly little fuck!” he cursed quietly, noting that the attending physician at General was Dr. Gerald Lamboski. This wouldn’t be the first time that he had noticed something wrong with a pregnancy, and rather than telling the patient what the issue was, he would send them over to the Centre for a “consultation”. One that inevitably meant that one of the physicians here had to crush the couple's dreams.

He made a note to draft yet another complaint against Dr. Lamboski, while checking the availability of the ultrasound tech for the day. That had been the last test that Gerald had run before sending them over, yet the images were mysteriously absent from the chart. It was almost a certainty that something wrong had been discovered, and the fact that he had sent them here meant that it was probably fatal for the foal.

Closing the chart for now, he focused on the next file in his paws.

**Anne and Jacob Miller:** A fox and a dingo couple who suspected that Anne was pregnant. The chart indicated that they had gone to their primary physician and that a pregnancy test was positive. His first thought was to order an ultrasound of her ovaries, as the test was probably a false positive. There were no indications that she had been using any infertility drugs, but he’d check that when he did the consult.

**Beth Woodman and Steven Chipworth** : A young beaver couple, which made him frown momentarily until he spotted the note indicating that Ms. Woodman was _Castor canadensis_ while Mr. Chipworth was _Castor fiber_. In all of history, there had only been one cub born in such a pairing, and it had been stillborn. He’d have to prepare them for the worst, as this meant that a pregnancy could be carried to term, yet still fail to produce a living child.

He sighed mournfully, as he looked at the fourth chart.

**Isara and William Clawson** : A Fennec and gray fox couple. This one was particularly cruel for all involved. Genetically they were so close, but every attempt had ended in tragedy, as it had for the few other documented cases he had been able to dig up. He flipped through their previous visits and noted the various outcomes. In three of the pregnancies, miscarriage had occurred between 3-4 weeks into the pregnancy. In two, there were either false positives, or failed pregnancies that had been reabsorbed prior to the first ultrasound.

This was the sixth attempt for them, and he knew that it wouldn’t be their last either.

Closing the charts, he looked up at the duty board. Anne Miller had been put in exam 3, and had been waiting for a half hour already. After washing his paws, he put on a false smile and prepared for the inevitable bad news he would be delivering in short order.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, damn you u/WildNick for almost daring me to write this.
> 
> Secondly, readers should note that this is the first piece of fiction I have written in probably a decade. IRL I’m a scientist (Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Genomics predominantly), so almost all of my writing is for journal articles and textbooks. This is the first time I’ve managed to write something with a Fleish reading ease score >20, so I’m really not used to this style. I quite honestly have no idea if this counts as good or bad fiction, so all of your comments are welcome.
> 
> In regards to the biology for Zootopia, I’m keeping things close to as they are in the real world, with one big exception. The development of intelligence, and the consequent increase in brain size and complexity does tend to increase the gestation times for mammals. As a result, I arbitrarily bumped up the gestation times for species in Zootopia by 10-30%. I have almost no empirical data to back this up, as the only comparison that really works is that between humans and chimpanzees. 
> 
> As mentioned in the summary, this isn’t going to be a happy story. As someone who is an ardent shipper for Nick and Judy, it’s not pleasant to write, but if the genetic of Zootopia are as they are here, this story represents the sad truth when it comes to hybrids.
> 
> I may include a happy thread here and there, as I might end up drinking myself to sleep if I kept up this level of sadness for too long. 
> 
> Questions? Comments? Feel free to ask.
> 
> Also as a note to other authors, if you have a question relating to science in your own works, feel free to send me a message. I’ve had a great deal of fun working though some thought experiments for other authors.
> 
> Remember, there are no dumb questions, only dumb answers…and those are my responsibility.


	2. Morning Rounds and a Mother’s Tongue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you to those who took the time to read the first chapter. I was frankly surprised that it’s approaching 200 reads (well page access at least), and I’m pleased to see that there is interest.
> 
> I’d especially like to thank the 3 individuals who took the time to post a review:
> 
> From AO3
> 
> \- twocentnuisance: You were the first, and I take your compliment to heart. 
> 
> \- WildeHopps: We’ve conversed many times about your writing, and I very much value your thoughts on my first kick at the can.  
> From FanFiction.net
> 
> \- tomcatace99: You are absolutely right that the smallest bit of hope can keep you going, but false hope can only take you so far. I hope to show what a difference that distinction makes. 
> 
> Now for some more technical stuff. WildeHopps pointed out (and rightly so), that I have a tendency to delve pretty deep into the scientific terminology when making a scene. This partly because, in my mind, that is what the characters would be thinking, but I also have to admit that a part of it is because I’ve been thinking that way for so long.
> 
> I will make an effort from now on to include brief descriptions of techniques and terms in the end notes for each chapter. If I miss something, please let me know, and I will do my best to fix it. 
> 
> Also, if you have additional questions regarding anything that’s included in this story, please feel free to ask. I managed to dodge any teaching this term, so this is as close to a lecture hall as I’m going to get.

              

* * *

 

               Dave walked down the hallway towards exam room 3. He knocked lightly on the door then opened it and let himself in. He was still wearing a false smile, one perfected over the years, but the smiles on the three occupants in the room were surprisingly genuine.

               A sheep in scrubs was still gesturing with her hooves wildly, and judging from the laughs and smiles on the faces of the two other canines in the room, she had been delivering some anecdote or another to lighten the atmosphere and make everyone more comfortable.

               “Nurse Wolner, are you inflicting your version of ‘humor’ on our patients.” Dave asked in a sombre tone, not quite managing to hide slight inklings of a real smile at the corners of his mouth.

               “Me Dr. Hawthorne? Of course not.” The sheep replied, collecting the blood vials and swabs to take down to the lab for processing. “I wouldn’t possibly have been regaling them with a certain graduate student’s informative talk at the ZMA conference last week. It ends up that Mr. Miller was in attendance presenting his own research, but neglected to mention our own Ms. Lupercal’s…contribution to the meeting to Ms. Miller”

               The smile on his muzzle managed to become a little wider as he recalled the poor graduate student’s first foray into an academic conference. Abbigail had been “voluntold” by her supervisor that she would be presenting her research this year. Much to her credit, she had thrown together an excellent presentation outlining her research on the evolutionary divergence of Canis and Vulpes chromosome 4. He had even been able to lend a paw at the innumerable practice sessions she had run in preparation.

               She had been equally animated when delivering her talk, and had managed to make it through the entire presentation in exactly the 12 minutes she had been allotted. Unfortunately the projector had malfunctioned about half way in, and she had missed the frantic waving of her colleagues, the moderator, and the eventual chuckles of about half of the Zootopian medical establishment*.

               She did still almost win the best student presentation award though. Sometimes being enthusiastic…and memorable, can be worth more than the best figures in the universe.

               Dave came back to the present when Mina moved to exit the room and he moved towards the couple. “As I’m sure you’ve guessed, I’m Dr. Hawthorne.” he said, offering his paw to Ms. Miller first, who was sitting on the exam table.

               She was a small red fox, probably only about a third his size, and less than a quarter his weight. She was wearing a blue surgical gown, with a short blanket covering her lower half. From her chart he knew that she was 25, but her small frame made her seem younger.

               He next offered his paw to Mr. Miller. A yellow dingo who, in contrast to his wife, seemed quite a bit older than the 26 years the nurse had written down in the charts when Ms. Miller was admitted. His eyelids sagged slightly, indicating either long hours or worry was eating into his sleep, and his clothes had the rumpled look of being lived in for longer than normal.

               “Yes Doctor” Ms. Miller spoke, still smiling thanks to Mina’s stories. “Nurse Wolner gave us some background on the Centre while we waited.” She gestured to herself and her husband “We weren’t sure if we should come really. Jacob is studying genomics at ZU, and we know that the odds of this being real are small, but our physician thought a consultation was in order.”

               “You’re right that the odds are low, but we are the best place to be if that’s the case” Dave replied smoothly. He even managed to sound convincing. “Now why don’t we start with some background questions?”

               He started going through the usual patient history queries. Do you have any medical conditions? Are you taking any medications? Is there any family medical history…the questions went on for a while, often repeating themselves. It was oh so common for a patient to say no to one question, but reply yes when it was phrased in a slightly different way.

               In this instance however, it was all a formality, and thoroughly uninformative as to the underlying cause. Anne had no existing medical history to explain the positive pregnancy test, so they moved into the physical exam.

              “Before we continue, I need to ask if you would be more comfortable if the physical exam were conducted by a female physician?” Dave asked before walking over to the sink to wash his paws again.

              “No, this is fine Doctor” She replied, laying back onto the exam table without prompting “And I’m fine with Jacob staying as well.”

              Dave gave her a quizzical glance, as her history hadn’t indicated that she had been through something like this previously.

              Jason noticed the look and spoke up for the first time “We went through the same thing with our physician. Almost verbatim actually.” Smiles played across their faces again, at the shared joke.

              Dave allowed himself a fraction of a real smile again and said “Well in our defence, we have had a lot of time to figure out the best questions to ask in a given situation.”

              He began the physical exam. Moving his paws over her chest and abdomen. Pushing here and there, locating and checking various organs and glands by touch. He had her sit up and listened to her heart and lungs, then checked the glands in her throat. He also checked her blood pressure again. Nurse Wolner had already taken it before his arrival, but he made it a practice to repeat the measurement after a while to try and account for white coat syndrome.

              So far, nothing was out of the ordinary. That was both good and bad given the situation. He made some notes in their chart, indicating that all her vitals seemed to be well within the normal range.

              While making his notes, Nurse Wolner returned to the room, and supplied the preliminary lab results before leaving again. The pregnancy test was positive, but the levels of relaxin were quite low given the time between the test at their physician’s office and this one. Additionally her oestrogen levels were high, but not as high as they should have been for a first trimester pregnancy. It wasn’t conclusive, but a picture was starting to form in his mind.

              He turned back to the exam table and asked, “Ms. Miller, I need to perform a pelvic exam on you. Are you all right with that?”

              “You could buy me dinner first at least?” she replied with a smirk while Dave and stood there, slightly shocked before his mental barriers snapped back into place and he regained control. He had not expected that particular joke out of this pair.

              Both the vixen and the dingo laughed at his reaction. “I’m sorry Dr. Hawthorne” Said Jason. “When our physician, Dr. Walfin made the consultation, she mentioned that if ended up with you as our physician, we were to say that at the first possible opportunity. Something about you during medical school?” the dingo asked.

              Dave coughed slightly to try and cover his shock. “Ummm, remind me to send her something special for her birthday this year. And no, we will not be going further into this.” He said with a vehemence that his eyes and smile did not match.

              He and Dr. Teresa Walfin had been in med school together, and that was when the female medical students had been used for practicing pelvic exams. It was something that had stopped several years ago, but Tess had never let him forget that little moment, which also happened to be in front of about half of their class.

              The couple didn’t press the issue, and in some ways, the humor helped to again release whatever tension was in the room. He motioned for Ms. Miller to scoot down to the ends of the table and place her hind-paws in the stirrups while he put on examination gloves. For the external exam, bare paws were best for improving sensitivity, but for a pelvic exam, it was a balance of sensitivity and safety, as well as decency.

              Not having experienced it himself, he had nothing to base his conclusions on, but he had yet to meet a mammal that enjoyed this exam. It was invasive, uncomfortable, and for some embarrassing to the extreme. Then again, he doubted a scenario when an effective stranger has their paw in your most intimate of places while prodding your abdomen couldn’t be embarrassing.

              The best way to deal with it was to be as professional as possible. He moved with practiced ease, both paws moving this way and that to identify and examine the vagina, the cervix, the uterus, the ovaries…wait, there!

              His right paw again pressed again into Anne left abdomen. A small bump could be felt on the surface of the left ovary. He continued the rest of the exam, noting nothing else of concern.

              He sat back and motioned for Ms. Miller to sit back up, more for her comfort than anything else.

              “Ms. Miller, there appears to be a small lump on one of your ovaries.” He said with practiced clinical detachment. “There are several possible reasons for this, and they also can account for the positive pregnancy test. With your consent, I’d like to perform a transvaginal ultrasound to get a better idea as to what you’re dealing with.”

              “What kind of reasons are you talking about exactly?” Jacob asked with some trepidation. Anne sensing this took his paw in her own.

              “The most likely cause is an ovarian cyst.” Dave answered. “It’s fairly common for many mammalian females in their child bearing years to have these.” He stopped and looked between the couple “That is the most likely scenario, but there are other potential causes. Before I get into those, I’d like to see if I can quickly rule them out for you.”

              Anne nodded her head and Dave continued “I’ll go and bring in the ultrasound. This shouldn’t take much longer.” He stood and gave a reassuring smile to the couple, then walked out the door and headed to Exam 2. Fortunately, the room wasn’t in use, and he was able to snag the ultrasound without disturbing anyone.

              He returned to Exam 3 and set about getting the machine prepped for use. It was very much like a standard ultrasound unit. The wand sent out waves of sound, which bounced off the hard and soft tissue within the body, and allowed for an image of the region to be created.

              The transvaginal ultrasound was, as the name implied more invasive to the patient. However, the reduced distances between the wand and the target greatly improved the visual quality of the images.

              When everything was prepared, he again washed his paws and donned gloves and motioned for Anne to move to the foot of the table.

              The procedure itself was short, and he was quickly explaining the results to the couple. Pointing out various features on the image.

              “You can see the ovary here, and this is the lump that I was talking about earlier.” He said drawing on the screen with a stylus. “If this was something more severe, like cancer, we’d expect for it to be a solid mass, but as you can see…” he switched the image to one showing the inside of the lump, “this is just fluid.” He leaned back and gave the couple a reassuring look. “I’m quite confident that this is just a cyst.”

              He noticed their relief and gave them a second to relax before continuing.  “When the follicles release the egg cells, they normally dissolve afterwards. In the event that they don’t they can become what are called corpus lutenum cysts. One of the effects of this is that they produce the exact same hormone that we use to detect pregnancy in canines…”

              He continued on for a while before sending them on their way with instructions to follow up with their primary physician in two weeks. Tess would keep an eye on things, and if the cyst didn’t go away on its own, there was additional treatment options for them to pursue.”

 _“That was quite possibly the best possible outcome I could have expected.”_ Dave thought to himself as he moved towards his next set of patients in Exam 1.

* * *

 

              He took a second to ensure that his professional barriers were well in place before knocking on the door and letting himself in. Inside the room two beavers were chatting. The male looked up immediately upon his entrance, while the female only glanced up before diverting her gaze to the floor.

              “Hello, Ms. Woodman and Mr. Chipworth?” He phrased it as a question in order to make it more of an introduction than a statement of fact. “I’m Dr. Hawthorne, and I’m one of the attending physicians at the Centre.” He continues, and moved forward to shake each of their paws before taking a seat across from them. Ms. Woodman he noticed returned her gaze to the

              “Thank you Doctor.” The male Beaver answered. “I’m Steven and this is my fiancé Beth.”

              Beth looked up when Steven mentioned her name. Dave could recognize the worry in her eyes, and worked to maintain his professional appearance.

              “Doctor, we never thought that this would be an issue.” Beth stated hurriedly. “Both Steven and I knew that children wouldn’t be an option when we first started dating. We never though that it actually might happen and...” Her voice broke suddenly and Steven reached over to take her paw in his.

              Steven looked back at Dave and spoke “We weren’t really careful about things, and when Beth started acting odd, we didn’t know what to do.”

              Dave sat back and started making notes. “When you say acting odd, what exactly do you mean?”

              “Well she started collecting branches and moss whenever we went out. Then at night she’d spend hours arranging them in the living room.” Steven said while Beth looked slightly embarrassed. Steve gave her paw anther squeeze before continuing. “I actually called my mom and she was the one to point out that it was nesting behavior. Once we figured that out, we used a home pregnancy test, and it was positive.”

              “We made an appointment as soon as we found out.” Beth added.

              Dave gave it some thought, _“That probably means that it’s been two and a half to three months.”_ Looking up he asked the couple, “Is this the first examination that you’ve had since you started showing the nesting behaviour?”

              “Yes, as soon as we had the positive test, we came directly here.” Steven answered. He paused momentarily before continuing in a more subdued tone, “We both know that hybrids between our two species…” Steven paused slightly, and Dave could see that he was fighting to keep his emotions in check. “…that things don’t tend to work out well.”

              Both beavers looked towards him, and he knew what their thoughts were, _“He can help us. He can find a way to make it work for us.”_

 _“I wish I could, you have no idea how much I wish I could.”_ He retorted his own internal pleas.

              Dave continued making notes, and then spoke “Well the first thing to do is to perform a full exam and do some bloodwork. Would you be more comfortable with a female…” he rattled on; going about the same rote motions.

              Steven and Beth nodded their heads when expected, answered all of his questions when he asked. The movement of his paws during the abdominal exam outlined the form of a single pup inside of Beth’s womb. That was unusual for beaver litters, but hybrid pregnancies were often much smaller than average.

              Everything was normal in the exam until the pattern was broken when Dave went to listen for the fetus’ heartbeat. He moved the stethoscope over her abdomen, listening intently for the quieter sound of a second heartbeat inside of a single body.

              He stood there, silent for a long minute, with only the louder lub-dub sounds of Beth’s heart. He then stood back up and pulled over a machine from the wall.

              “Beth, I’m going to use an echocardiogram to take a closer look at the fetus’ heart.” He said the words smoothly, without any of the dread that he actually felt. “It’s very similar to an ultrasound, and will let us get a better look at how things are progressing.”

              After setting up the instrument, and applying the gel to Beth’s abdomen, he began looking for the pup, _“Fetus!”_ he internally corrected himself. _“You don’t think of them as pups until after you were certain there is a chance.”_

              Things worked a bit differently at the Centre. In normal prenatal check-ups, there were endless opportunities for expectant parents to be given the opportunity to listen to their baby’s heartbeat, or to see what the ultrasound image looked like. They could even take these “memories” home with them on a USB drive if they wanted.

              That didn’t happen at the Centre. Those normal moments of joy were generally withheld until there was a chance that they wouldn’t simply turn to ash. This was one of those cases.

              Dave looked at the image on the screen and tried to see any sign of movement. A flutter of a valve, a movement of muscle, _“Anything damn it!”_ he raged internally.

              It wasn’t to be however. He removed the wand and turned off the machine. He reached over and grabbed some towels for Beth to clean off her stomach, and he gave the two a moment to settle in.

              He forced his mental barriers to remain strong as he again spoke the words no parent ever wants to hear. “Ms. Woodworth, Mr. Chipworth, I have some very bad news.” He saw them crumble, but made himself continue “I was unable to find any heartbeat in the fetus. There has been no movement, and no signs of life during this time. Given its stage of development, there is nothing that can be done.”

              He only moved forward when Beth started to slip from the table to the floor. He caught her before she had made it half way, and he moved her to the chair beside her fiancé.

              Steven hadn’t even twitched and was staring at some spot in the distance.

              He moved to the door of the room, but not to leave. He pressed a blue switch on the wall before heading back to stand before the couple. He knelt down in front of both of them and leaned forward so that he was close to eye level. Tears were flowing from both of them now. He gave them as much time as they needed, and waited until they reached out to each other, and their gazes refocused on him.

              “Ms. Woodworth, we’ll need to admit you for monitoring for the time being.” He spoke directly to Beth. “Unfortunately, in cases like this we need to be sure that this doesn’t cause immediate health problems for you.”

              He looked to both of them in order to make sure that the words had made it through their shock. They both nodded their heads and he continued softly “Do either of you have any questions about this?”

              There was a moment of silence before Steven spoke quietly. Dave already knew the question. “Is there anything we could have done to save him?”

              Dave reached out a paw and placed it on their clenched ones. “No, there wasn’t anything that you could have done. Even if you had been here from the start it wouldn’t have changed things.”

              He heard a knock at the door, and looked over his shoulder as it opened. A middle aged, female gazelle in a suit entered into the room. She already had a copy of the patient’s chart, and Dave quietly handed over his notes.

              While the gazelle looked through the notes, Dave again spoke to the couple. “This is Ms. Antlerson, she’s going to help you both get settled in. I’ll be around later today to check in on you, but if you have any questions, let the nurses know, and they’ll find me.”

              He waited for them both to look at him. Beth said nothing but nodded her head. Steven mumbled a “Thank you Doctor.” Before reaching over to hug his mate. Their tears flowed freely, and Dave felt a squeeze on his shoulder. He looked up to see Ms Antlerson, who gave him a slight nod of the head towards the door.

              “I’ve got this Doctor.” She said quietly, and he took the hint and quietly rose back up and headed towards the door.

              As he passed by her he placed a paw on her shoulder and quietly said “Thanks Ellen. If they need anything…”

              “I’ll find you.” She whispered back before kneeling down herself as the two beavers continued to hold each other and weep. The Centre was also one of the only facilities that he knew of that kept 2 grief counselors on staff at all times given its small size.

* * *

 

              Dave let himself out of the room and made his way to the bathroom. Once inside, he stood in front of the sink, and looked at his reflection. He forced his face back into its practiced mask, then washed his paws and went back out into the hall and headed for the nurses station. He glanced at the clock as he passed, and saw that it was now 10:20.

              He checked the board and saw that the Clawson’s had arrived on time and were waiting in Exam 4. There were no additions to the chart he already had, so he walked across the hall and knocked on the door forcing his mask to stay strong.

              The two foxes in the room had quite a different reaction than his previous patients. They looked up to him from whatever conversation they had been having and waved happily. “Hello Dr. Hawthorne!” The small Fennec said from her place on the examination table, with her husband, an average sized grey fox, only a fraction of a second behind.

              “Mr. and Ms. Clawson.” He greeted them with a quick bow of the head as he moved forward to shake their paws.

              “We’ve been over this before Dr. Hawthorne.” William said, clicking his tongue slightly in reproach. “We call you Dr. Hawthorne, but for you it’s William and Isara. We’re not that old you know!” The last bit was spoken with feigned insult, but the smile never left either his or his wife’s face.

              “Fine, fine, you win William!” Dave held up his paws in mock surrender. He secretly wished that they wouldn’t insist on this, but it was a battle he knew he wasn’t going to win, and went along because it helped them deal with the situation.

              With the introductions out of the way, he let his professional mask once again take over. The same questions came pouring out of him, and both Isara and William answered dutifully.

              Once the questions were out of the way, and while Isara was preparing for the physical exam Dave asked “If I may, why did you wait so long this time?” He moved to wash his paws again and continued “In your previous pregnancies, you were here almost as soon as you found out. What was different this time?”

              When he turned back to the couple, they both had a somewhat sheepish expressions on them. Under different circumstances he might have laughed at seeing it on two predators.

              Isara spoke up first. “We didn’t want to be a bother.” Giving a slight shrug of her shoulders she continued, “We have been through this before, and we didn’t want to trouble any of you.”

             William looked slightly uncomfortable when he took over, “You and everyone here have done so much to help us in the past. We just felt guilty bothering you again and again.” He stopped for a moment before continuing “We both know what the odds are. You know, the odds of us having a child.” He looked up and Dave nodded at him to continue.

             “We just didn’t want to waste your time.”

             Dave looked at the two of them, and fought to keep his mask in place. It took a second, but he managed. He was about to over a line, but it needed to be done.

             “Isara, William,” He began, “regardless of what we find out today, I want a promise from both of you.” He looked to each of them carefully. “If you are ever in a situation like this again, you will not wait before coming here.” His tone was severe, and the look on his face showed that he meant every word.

             “The Centre exists to try and help mammals like you,” He allowed his mask to slip slightly so that some of the sadness he felt could filter through to his face “and to my regret, we haven’t been able to do much, but that does not mean that we will EVER stop trying. Do not think otherwise. You are not a bother, you are not a burden, you are not a waste of time, and you are welcome here whenever you need us.”

             The two foxes stared at him, and he used the delay to get himself back under control. William looked away, while Isara blinked repeatedly. “We will remember that Dr. Hawthorne” She said “…and thank you.”

             Once that was out of the way, the atmosphere quickly went back to the normal clinical setting.

             Dave ran through the normal prenatal check-up. Measuring Isara’s now rounded abdomen, poking and prodding thoroughly her much to her mock dismay. He listened to both her and the fetus’ heartbeat, and even felt a small glimmer of hope as both were clearly heard.

             He had her sit back up while he drew some blood samples, and was just affixing the safety seal to the cap on the vial when there was a knock at the door. The door swung open, and at first it seemed that there was nothing but a tall rectangular machine on the other side of the door. Then two long ears poked up on the other side, and a brown and white rabbit in green scrubs came into the room.

             “Oh hello Grant! I didn’t think you worked Mondays.” Isara smiled warmly at the appearance of the ultrasound technician. Dave knew that he had been her technician for the last couple of times, and they seemed to get along well, even considering the circumstances. Then again, neither of the Wilson’s appeared to have a mean bone in their bodies…which didn’t make things easier.

             “I switched shifts with Gina so she could have her anniversary off Ms. Clawson.” Grant replied warmly, moving the machine into position beside the examination table. Looking over at Dave he spoke warmly, “We ready to go Doc?”

             “She’s all yours Mr. Wilson.” He replied with the same warm tone. “If you need me, I’ll be dictating my charts in my office.”

             Dave headed out of the room just seeing the rabbit effortlessly leap up onto a stool and slide perfectly over to Isara on the exam table. _“He’s a damn good tech”_ he thought with a slight smile, _“but one of these days, he’s going to miss that jump and end up next door.”_

             He gathered up his patients’ charts so far, and moved back into the facility towards the staff offices. He didn’t really need to be going over his charts this early in the day, but that was partially a ruse for the patients. When dealing with an experienced patient, having the physician handle duties that were commonly done by nurses or technicians, often led to an increased level of stress. In reality, techs like Grant were probably better capable of making diagnoses that anyone else in the Centre, but it was also a matter of responsibility. When it came to delivering bad news, the chain of command began and ended with the attending physicians.

             The Centre has devised a simple solution to this. All of the techs and nurses could send out a message to every staff members’ phone and computer if something untoward was found. In order to ensure that the attending physician would be on hand in such an event, they made sure that they were not engaged in any essential tasks while the tests were ongoing. Some took as an opportunity to grab a coffee or a snack, but Dave was still in morning mode, and decided to see about catching up on the never ending reams of paperwork that the job entailed.

             …he also didn’t think it would be long before he was called back in.

             Only 7 minutes after he left the room, his phone vibrated, and a text message appeared on his desktop screen.

             “Dr. Hawthorne to Exam 4.” was all it said, but it was enough. He dropped the file and made his way back up the hall, not at a run, but about as close as you can get without both feet leaving the ground.

             He walked into Exam 4, and he could see that Isara and William already knew what was coming. William was grasping onto Isara’s paw so tightly that the both shook. Neither one seemed to notice it.

             Grant looked sternly at the monitor in front of him, one hand still holding the ultrasound wand, while the other adjusted the image on screen.

             Dave walked over and looked at the screen. It wasn’t set up for the photogenic 3D ultrasounds that parents tacked onto their fridges. This was the diagnostic 2D slice that gave physicians and techs far more information. It showed the chest and abdomen of a small fox kit, right at about 6 weeks of development. He could make out the beating heart, and couldn’t initially see what the issue was.

             Grant then moved the wand, and the image moved so that they started to see the fetus’ spine. Grant hit a key and froze the image, and Dave could see the problem. Coming out from the lumbar region of the spine, a large sac-like protrusion extended out in the amniotic fluid. It was a myelomeningocele, a severe form of spina bifida. A neurological defect caused by a failure of the spinal cord to properly form, and resulting in normal meninges of the spinal column to protruding outside of the body.

             In a case like this one, it was almost certain the cord itself was contained within that meningeal sac. This usually meant some kind of paralysis, but it wasn’t necessarily fatal. Dave looked over to Grant and asked the questions _“What else? Is that it?”_ with a glance and a raised eyebrow.

             Grant shook his head slightly and reengaged the machine. He moved the wand slightly until Dave could see the kit’s face and…He understood instantly.

             The small muzzle was frozen on screen, and above that two small eyes remained closed. After that however, there was nothing. Grant moved the wand again, and Dave saw that it was very bad. Where the cranium of the skull would be was an open void. He could see the shape that represented the small about of brain tissue present. Little more than a brainstem exposed to the amniotic fluid.

             The condition was called anencephaly, a neural tube defect that had both genetic and environmental causes. Regardless of why it had happened, there would be no good news for the Clawsons today. He reached over and turned off the machine, then forced his mental barriers back into place.

             “Mr. and Ms. Clawson,” he said, switching back to his formal persona “I have some very bad news for you.” He began, giving Grant a chance to leave the room. Grant didn’t leave however, merely reached over and took Isara’s other paw in his own.

             Dave should have insisted that he leave, but this wasn’t just professional for the staff here. The Clawsons were family, weather they knew it or not.

* * *

 

               The tears had come, as he knew they would. He went through all the usual motions, explaining the condition, what it meant for the survivability of the fetus, of what options there were. The options were limited in this case, and none of them happy ones. She could probably carry the fetus to term, but if it survived the birth, it probably wouldn’t survive for long, and even then there was no possibility for any kind of a normal life.

               It (they hadn’t asked what the gender was, and he wouldn’t provide it unprompted), would have been eye blind and nose blind, deaf, and unable of making any sound or motion aside from instinctive reflexes.

               “My recommendation is to terminate the pregnancy.” He state gravely. “You don’t need to decide right away. Your health isn’t in any additional danger, but there will not be any improvement in the fetus’ condition. I’ve very sorry.”

               They took it all in as he knew they would. Everything progressed as normal, the usual questions were asked. Eventually Isara thanked Grant, and hugged him before he excused himself from the room. The questions continued for a while, and Dave answered each dutifully. Never once shying away or attempting to dodge a topic. He was so involved that when William suddenly blurted out, “Why are we doing this to ourselves?”

               Dave’s internal filters failed and he didn’t even think to stop himself before he answered, “Because the two of you love each other more than anything, and you want to share that love with your...” He stopped and blinked. Utterly stunned by the breach of professional protocol.

               He fought to recover from the shock, and said, “I’m am very sorry for that outburst. It was uncalled for and unprofessional.” He was appalled at himself for allowing himself to slip up so badly. He looked down at the floor and expected tears, or anger, anything but what happened next.

               A small paw took up his own and Isara said, “Thank you.” The words were quiet, but they thundered in his head. “Thank you for that.”

               He looked up, and there were still tears in her eyes, but there was no anger, no malice. He looked over at William and saw the same thing in his eyes. His internal barriers were beginning to crumble in earnest; he could feel a rising wave barely being held back now.

               “I don’t...” he began, his mind not able to grasp back onto the clinical detachment he so desperately needed “I don’t understand. I didn’t help you. We didn’t help you...again!” His voice was still one of shock, but some deeper emotion started to work its way into the undertones.

               Isara’s eyes suddenly blazed, and she stood up on her chair. From this position, she was almost at eye height with his seated form, and she looked him directly in the eye as she spoke. “Doctor Hawthorne, you stop that this instant!” It was an almost instinctive reaction to the words, he sat up slightly straighter, his ears perked forward of their own accord. This was the voice of a mother, and all mammals knew that particular tone. One listened, or one paid a terrible price.

               “Yes, we’ve been here before, but you and the other mammals here have in not ‘failed’ us.” She put emphasis on the word failed throwing it out with utter contempt. “Both William and I probably know as much about this topic as any physician outside the Centre, and that also means that we keep up with what you do manage to accomplish.”

               “We haven’t been able to have children of our own, but what you have done is use that to help others.” She waved her paws around the room to emphasize. “We read the journals. We even attend the conferences on occasion. We know that what you learn here saves others, even if it doesn’t directly help your ‘mission’.”

               She quieted down slightly, but continued on “Every mammal on staff here cares about us, and everyone who comes through those doors.” She gestured back towards the entrance to the facility.

               “Well except for Dr. Kent; he’s an ass.” William added in, eliciting an involuntary bark of laughter from Dave before he actually slapped both paws to his muzzle. Inside his head another shard of armour cracked away.

               Isara glared at them both before continuing, “Even though you probably won’t be able to help them; how did you put it, ‘…that does not mean that you will EVER stop trying.’” She even made an attempt to match his cadence from earlier. She sat back down and looked at Dave again, “Did you know that the last time I was here, Dr. Pawson just so happened to leave me in the waiting room with Beverly Whitehare from Zootopia Child and Family Services?”

               There was a bit less steel in her eyes, but they still blazed. “She just happened to be waiting for a meeting, and just so happened to ask me about if my husband and I had considered adopting a kit.”

               Dave’s eyes wanted to bug out of his head. _“What was Laura thinking?”_ he screamed internally. That was so far beyond the line he doubted that you could even look back and see it from there.

               Isara looked at him and smiled. “You probably think I’d be angry by that kind of setup, but really it just confirmed what we already knew.”

               The small Fennec surprised Dave again when she stood on her chair and leaned over to wrap her small arms around him, or tried to at least. He stiffened, by she didn’t relent. “All of you care, all of you want to help, and none of you will stop if there’s anything that you can do.” She released him, and then looked him in the eyes and finished, “Don’t ever doubt that Dr. Hawthorne, and don’t you ever think that you should be sorry for it.”

               She hopped down from the chair, and moved to gather up her bag. “Now I’m sure that you have other patients that need you. William and I will stop at the front and book the…the procedure with Natalie.” Her voice broke slightly as she spoke, but she continued on as if it never happened.

               Dave stood up stiffly and made towards the door reaching for the blue switch as he went. “Don’t you press that!” A stern voice sounded behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see William looking at him this time. “We will be fine Dr. Hawthorne. Let us deal with this.”

               Dave nodded and walked out of the exam room. He quickly made a few notations on the chart and placed it in the holder beside the door. He turned left and walked deeper into the Centre’s interior. With every step, his mental barriers crumpled a bit further. A leopard nurse, Doug Mills, walked out of one of the private rooms, and started to move towards him holding another chart. Doug must have seen something in his face, or recognized where he was heading, as he stopped and gave a silent nod. Dave might have returned the gesture. He wasn’t sure anymore. He turned down a short hallway and opened a door labelled “Storage”.

               The room was almost empty. With only a single chair, a waste bin, sink and mirror on the far wall. He closed and locked the door then leaned his back against it.

               This room was an unspoken refuge for the staff, and a locked door meant only one thing.

               He slowly allowed himself the slide down to the floor, the final shreds of his self-control fraying away as he fell. The tears were already flowing when his decent ceased. He gathered his head in his paws, and silently wept.

* * *

**End Notes Part 1:** Since they the character limit wouldn't let everything through.

* This was based on an actual presentation by a student at a conference I attended a few years ago (not one of my students, but one of a friend and colleague). The projector cut to a white screen, and we just couldn’t get them to stop. They made it through about half of their presentation, and only noticed that things were broken when they made it to the “Any Questions?” slide and actually looked at the screen…it was a very good talk regardless.  
  
Well this one was a bit longer that the previous chapter.  
  
Once again, thank you to everyone who read this, and a special thank you to those readers who take the time to comment.<br />  
I’m pleased to say that things will be a little lighter in the next chapter, as we’ll be delving into the research side of the Centre, and I haven’t forgotten about the Zebra couple. Their story will be told in the next chapter as well.  
  
Now, on to the technical stuff:  
  
**Ultrasound Imaging:** For anyone who isn’t aware, ultrasound is a non-invasive type of imaging system that uses sound waves to construct 2D and 3D images of internal and external feature of the body. The system works in the same way as a ship’s sonar. Sending out sound waves and measuring the speed at which they return. In the case of ultrasound though, the system is able to finely differentiate between many different tissue types, and is commonly used for preliminary diagnostics, and for monitoring fetal development throughout a pregnancy.  
  
The transvaginal ultrasound is a variant on the general ultrasound system, but instead of an external wand, it uses one that is inserted inside the body. This helps with image resolution, as it reduces the number of tissue layers that the sound needs to pass through to reach its target. It is particularly useful in the early stages of pregnancy, when the embryo/fetus is very small and difficult to visualize with trans-abdominal ultrasound.  
  
There are also endoscopic ultrasound systems, which can be used in places such as the oesophagus, or rectum for the same reason. <br />  
White Coat Syndrome: A condition where fear of a medical procedure, or practitioner, causes an individual to suffer anxiety when confronted with these situations. This can lead to aberrant test results, and can sometimes by mitigated by allowing the patient to become comfortable in a clinical setting prior to conducting tests, or by repeating the tests at a later time point, after allowing the subject to become accustomed to the setting.  
  
**Relaxin:** In human pregnancy tests, we normally look for hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) however this particular hormone isn’t present in many members of Carnivora (including canines and felines). For these species the hormone relaxin is a key indicator of pregnancy, along with increases in oestrogen levels.  
  
**Neural Tube:** During chordate (which includes mammals) embryo development, the formation of the neural tube is an essential part of normal tissue differentiation. The neural tube arises from the ectoderm, one of the 3 germ (primary) layers in the embryo. As part of this process the ectoderm “folds” inwards creating a tube-like structure. This tube separates from the ectoderm (now the epidermis), forming the now contiguous neural tube. Failure of this process to occur, can result in a number of congenital abnormalities, many of which are lethal, or leading to severe impairment.  
  
I think that should do it for this time. I tried to explain the other terms used in the text, but if I missed anything let me know and I will correct things if possible.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I have tried to keep things accurate from a scientific perspective, with a little bit of artistic licence to keep things flowing. If you do notice any contradictions or outright mistakes, PLEASE make a comment about it. If I don’t get called out for it, it’s impossible for me to learn.
> 
> From this point on, I’ll only promise for an update every two weeks, but I do intend on pushing for one a week. The new term has arrived, and the job takes precedence over Zootopian thought experiments and making Dave’s life miserable.
> 
> There will be more to this story than the sadness I’m overwhelming everyone with today, but I really wanted to get across the point that interspecies hybrids are VERY rare outside of closely related species. The consequences of a society where different species can fall in love, and do what comes naturally, are real, and the heartache that they could bring is quite frankly awful to think about…yet I keep going.
> 
> There will be some happiness, but it will be the rare event.
> 
> For those who aren’t aware, in humans it’s estimated that up to 40% of pregnancies fail before the woman even knows that she’s pregnant. These miscarriages are caused by a variety of factors, but quite often it’s because something went wrong during cell division. A chromosome didn’t migrate properly, one cell received too few or too many, the organelles weren’t split evenly (or asymmetrically for some cell types), or something was generally damaged during division. 
> 
> These things happen almost half the time when the parents ARE THE SAME SPECIES!
> 
> Think about that for a second. 
> 
> There are multiple check points where the cell is basically looking to see if everything is OK before continuing to divide. If something is wrong, the cell ceases replication, and will even commit suicide (apoptosis, or programmed cell death) if the conditions are right. This is a generally good thing, as the most common example of bad cells dividing that we have is cancer.
> 
> Note: To any oncologist that reads this, I am well aware that cancer is caused by multiple factors, and has many potential modes of action, but bear with me here.
> 
> These checks and balances have evolved to maximize the survivability of the species. When we start factoring in interspecies relationships, you end up having these checks and balances come to a head. There are always genetic incompatibilities, but when these are small, there’s enough wiggle room built into the system to allow things to work. There wouldn’t be any evolutionary change if there wasn’t.
> 
> The issue is that the main difference between individual genetic variation, and genetic incompatibility is usually just a matter of magnitude. The more different two individuals are, the more likely one of those cell divisions, or protein-protein interactions will fail. When you factor in such things as genetic drift, you start to see just how much of a challenge these things become. 
> 
> Just look at the difference that we see between wolves and foxes (Canis and Vulpes). The two are thought to have diverged from each other about 10 million years ago. That is a long time, but when you look at their genomes, you start to see just HOW much things can change.
> 
> The wolf genome is composed of 78 chromosomes (1n=39), and this is the same in many Canis species, as they all are relatively recent developments (within 2 Mya). When you compare the red or arctic fox to wolves, things start to really fall apart. 
> 
> The Vulpes genes has a wide variety of chromosome number. The more common red fox has 34 chromosomes (1n=17) along with up to 5 microchromosomes. One of the jokes (at least I thought it was a joke) from Zootopia is the constant idea that Finnick is Nicks son. Well the fennec fox has 64 chromosomes, and isn’t compatible with pretty well any other fox species…the same is true for most other Vulpes members, who have 2n chromosome numbers ranging from 17 to 50, to 64. 
> 
> …and Canis and Vulpes only separated about 10 million years ago. Where does that leave our beloved WildeXHopps members?  
> Probably in tears, as Rodentia and Carnivora broke off over 40 million years ago.
> 
> Note: For those who want WildHopps to be a real thing, my advice is to think of Zootopia as an engineered society. That way you have a blank slate to work with. 
> 
> The alternative is to say “FUCK SCIENCE!” preferably while wielding pitchforks and torches. Remember that no story should need be at the mercy of reality. That’s part of the fun is thinking of other ways to view these things. 
> 
> I’m going with a “realistic” approach, mainly because that’s what my background is in. It’s what I know, and what I’m comfortable with. This should never HAVE to be the case though.
> 
> Regardless, I hope that you will enjoy this. Maybe you’ll learn something, or try thinking about things in a new way, but as long as you get some pleasure out of it, my work is justified.


	3. Mistakes and Hubris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again thank you to all the readers who have given this story a shot. A particular thanks to those who have taken the time to comment or review the story so far.
> 
> From Fanfiction:
> 
> Euphonemes: Thank you for your review, and I’ve much enjoyed our PM conversations about this and other topics. I look forward to reading more of your work as well.
> 
> jamdea: I very much value your insight into the medical world. I was utterly unaware of how conditions for the medical staff outside of my experience in Canada. It was both informative, and distressing to hear how things differ.
> 
> TheCatweazle: Thank you for your insight, and I’ve valued our PM conversations about this story and your own work. I fully intend to keep up the quality of this story, and I look forward to seeing how you build out your own worlds.
> 
> From AO3:
> 
> WildeHopps: As always I thank you for your comments, and trying to keep me with a supply of fluff to counteract the effect of writing this story. This chapter hurt to write, but I'm glad that I had your (and others) stories to help afterwards.
> 
> Also, a thank you to chaopz on AO3 for asking a great question about hypothetical genome research in Zootopia. I hope my reply made sense and that you can use the information.
> 
> So this is going to be the last of the really heavy technical chapters for a bit. I’m trying to front-load the more technical aspects so that they don’t slow down the flow in later chapters. This chapter will also be a bit lighter than the previous ones, and will show a bit more of the research and interplay between the staff at the Centre.
> 
> It’s not going to be happy, but it’s not going to be permeated in despair as the previous ones.
> 
> Edit: November 23rd, 2017
> 
> I've added a piece of artwork to the chapter. This was created by TheNightManager, and serves as some new cover art.

**Chapter 3: Mistakes and Hubris**

_Plik…_

_Plik…_

_Plik…_

He stood in front of the mirror with his ears twitching each time a tear fell from his cheeks into the sink. It had probably been no more than 15 minutes since he had entered the small room, but it had been enough to drag him back from the abyss. The first few minutes were lost to him, all jumbled up in maelstrom of grief, but the emotional boil had been lanced, and eventually a weight had lifted from his shoulders. He had been able to stand and look at himself again, and even more importantly, he had recognized the face staring back.

Dave turned on the taps, and washed his face and paws again. There wasn’t a fur dryer in the “Storage” room, so he wasn’t going to be able to completely mask his activities, but as he felt his mental barriers settle in place once again, he knew it really didn’t matter. He still had a job to do, and patients that needed him.

A vibration from his pocked drew his attention away from the wolf in the mirror. He retrieved his phone, and saw the text from Dr. Catherine Willow. Dave checked the time on his phone and saw that Catherine would have come on shift about a half hour ago.

The text itself was brief, _“You OK to handle the Pandels?”_ and Dave chuckled in spite of himself as the brevity somewhat encapsulated Cat to a T. She had either seen him head to the storage room, or had heard from one of the other staff members, and she wasn’t one to waste time with pleasantries…at least not with friends  and colleagues.

_“Heading out now. I’m good.”_ He typed out and hit send. Before leaving the room, he checked himself once again in the mirror. The fur on his face was still damp, but the redness in his eyes was starting dissipate. The former was easily explained away, and the latter would only be noticed by those who knew him well.

He took a moment to straighten his scrubs and lab coat, before unlocking the door and once again stepping out into reality once again. The little refuge had served its purpose, but he couldn’t hide there forever. His patients needed him, and his friends and colleagues needed him.

The reality of it was that he also needed to do this for himself. Hope was both a blessing and a curse, but he kept its ember burning inside of him. It normally did little to push back the darkness, but today, it seemed to burn just a little brighter.

* * *

 

He stopped off at his office to pick up Ms. Pandels chart, then walked back towards the front of the Centre and poked his head into the nurse’s station and looked around, all while his nose searched for a particular scent. A small bobcat was organizing some paperwork, and looked up when he arrived, “Oh, good afternoon Dr. Hawthorne. Were you looking for someone?”  
  
Dave gave her a smile before speaking, “Hi Sara; have you seen Grant around?” he asked, with his nose still twitching. He could already tell that Grant had been there no more than a few minutes ago, and his scent seemed to be heading towards the mid-sized exam rooms, but it wouldn’t do for him to go sniffing around the halls, and the odds are Sara knew where he was headed.

“He was heading off to Exam 2 to clean some equipment, I think.” Sara replied after a moment. “He said he wanted to go for lunch after, but I don’t think he left just yet.”

“Thanks!” Dave said as he headed back towards Exam 2. He once again looked over the chart of the zebra couple. The ultrasound images were missing, and that was an ominous sign, but all of the other notes were normal, or very close to normal.

The door was open when he arrived, and the rabbit was indeed sitting by the sink, working a cloth over the wand of one of the ultrasound units. One of his long ears twitched towards Dave as he entered, and the rabbit put the wand down and pivoted on his stool to face him. There was a look of curiosity on his face when he spoke.

“Dr. Hawthorne, you have something for me I take it?” The rabbit asked with a bit of a grin on his face.

“I might just at that.” He turned the chart to face the rabbit and tapped the signature of the physician who had requested the consultation and transfer. “The Pandels came over from General, and Dr. Lamboski seems to have neglected to include the ultrasound imaged from his exam.”

Grant’s ears fell when he heard the name, but he took the chart from Dave’s paw and flipped through it.

“We both know it’s not going to be good, but I’d like another set of eyes on this one.” Dave continued when the rabbit had finished looking things over. “This is just a request. I’m sure we can think of a dozen reasons why you wouldn’t want to.”

Both mammals were thoughtful at that, each having experienced previously just how often “consultations” from General were little more than attempts to pass the buck on delivering bad news.

Grant looked Dave squarely in the eyes and nodded his head. “When do you want me to come in?”

“Give me 15 minutes to do the initial exam, and then head over. They’re in Exam 7 right now,” Dave nodded to the rabbit and started to head back out the door, “and Grant. Thanks for this.”

“Do you have any idea how we’re going to look Dave?” Grant said with a chuckle. “The wand for the unit in 7 is almost as big as my arm…and I might need to need to climb ON Ms. Pandel if we need to get more detailed ventral images.“

“That’s why they pay us the big bucks” Dave said over his shoulder “and it’s not like we have anyone that size on staff anyways. At least when you do it the patients seem to find it cu...uhhh see you in 15!” He cut himself off before he used the “C” word and quickly headed down the hall, but not before he heard some angry muttering from behind.

* * *

 

The exam rooms in the Centre were broken up into 3 sets of 5, with each set catering to different body sizes. Rooms 6-10 were set aside for the larger mammals, of which the Pandels were grouped. He knocked on the door to exam 7 and let himself in.

The two zebras looked exhausted when he entered, and even though their appointment with Dr. Lamboski had been yesterday, he was fairly certain that they hadn’t slept that night. He made sure that his smile was in place and began the dance again. “Hello Ms. and Mr. Pandel, I’m Dr. Hawthorne, one of the attending physicians here at the Centre.” He moved forward and offered his paw to each of them. “I can see from your chart that you saw Dr. Lamboski yesterday and he sent you here for a consult.”

Ms. Pandel was the first to respond “Yeah, we were over there for some tests, and when we got to the ultrasound, that doctor clammed up and got all weird.” She was obviously tired and frustrated “He wouldn’t answer anything and just kept on saying that we needed to go see you guys here.”

Mr. Pandel spoke next, “I even tried to pin him down in the hallway to get some answers, but he just kept nattering on about us coming here.” He looked over at his mate and took her hoof in his own. “We know that something’s not right, but no one would tell us anything.”

Dave could see the tears that threatened to fall from the zebra’s eyes, but after a shaking breath he continued “We just want to know if our foal is OK. Is that too much to ask?”

Dave frowned at the description of their treatment over at the main hospital “I’m very sorry to hear that, and no, it is not too much to ask. If I can give you answers, I will.” He looked back to their chart and began taking notes again.

“We’ll start with a physical exam just to make sure we don’t miss anything, then we’ll do another ultrasound.” He stood up and walked over to the sink to wash his paws. “Before we begin, I should ask if you’d be more comfortable with a female…”

The pattern reasserted itself, and Dave went through the usual questions and began the physical exam. He was just over the half way point when there was a knock on the door, and Grant let himself in. The rabbit looked to Dave who gave him a nod, and then introduced himself to the Pandels.

“Mr. and Ms. Pandel I’m Grant Wilson, one of the ultrasound techs.” After shaking their hooves he made his way to the ultrasound machine in the room. The unit itself was only marginally larger than the unit Grant normally made use of for mid-sized mammals, but the wand and cabling were quite a bit bigger and more bulky to move about.

After rolling the unit over to the exam table, the rabbit hopped up on the closest stool, then frowned when it didn’t even allow him to come to eye level with the top of the table. He sighed and hopped down to grab the step ladder that was kept on the wall for just such an occasion. From the way that the Pandels seemed to smile at the antics, Dave was almost certain that Grant had done it purposefully. Whatever the cause, he was thankful for it.

* * *

 

The procedure started off normally, and Grant moved the comically large wand over Ms. Pandel’s abdomen. Because of the distance, Dave handled the image controls, and both mammals looked intently at the image on screen.

Initially, everything seemed to be normal with the fetus. It was average size for a foal at 7 months development, and there were no gross abnormalities that jumped out at either mammal. When Grant focused on the fetus’ heart that changed though.

Dave froze the image on screen, and both he and Grant frowned at what it showed. _“Well that explains why he sent them here.”_ Dave thought glumly.

Rather than the heart having 4 distinct chambers, the one on the screen only had 3. The left and right ventricles were apparently fused into a single chamber in a condition known as univentricular isomerism. In some mammals it was treatable or manageable, but that wasn’t the case for most equines. They were unable to maintain sufficient blood oxygenation with the single ventricle, and surgical repair for them had a very low rate of success.

_“There’s something odd about the angle of the mitral valve though. It was almost like it wasn’t lining up with the ventricle…and the ECG doesn’t match this?”_ Dave thought and flipped over to the ECG readout from their appointment at General again. It wasn’t standard to perform a fetal ECG at this stage, but he was glad to have it. He looked over to Grant for confirmation, but Grant had an odd look about him.

“Dr. Hawthorne, can you start the live feed again?” He asked moving the wand even before the screen started showing the image again.

“Ms. Pandel, I’m going to need to press a bit harder into your side. Is that OK?” Grant asked.

The zebra nodded, and Grant moved the wand over to the left, changing the angle of the image on screen. Dave worked to clear up the image, as the new position meant that there was a good deal more tissue between the wand and the fetus.

Once again both mammals looked at the screen, but this time a smile began to creep onto both of their muzzles. The 4th chamber of the heart was indeed present, but was smaller than it should have been. From the image on screen, this was a comparatively mild version of cardiac hypoplasia, but the size of the left ventricle, mitral and aortal valves were well within the range where surgical repair was a real option. This was extremely good news, as a more severe form would have been just as fatal as univertricular isomerism.

Dave froze the image, and turned the machine so that the parents could see the screen. “Ms. and Mr. Pandel, There is an issue with the fetus’ heart, and I see why Dr. Lamboski wanted you to sent here.” He started pointing out the various features on the screen. Going over what the malformations were, and what their implication was. He left out the part about Dr. Lamboski probably panicking at the first sign of the heart defect and failing to closely examine the evidence from the ultrasound and ECG.

“Treatment for this will require several surgeries, and I’d like to have you see Dr. Pawson this afternoon. She’s our fetal and neonatal cardiologist and…” Dave stopped when he saw the looks of worry on the Pandel’s faces.

“I know this seems bad, but this is something that we have a very good chance of being able to fix.” Dave continued, but Mr. Pandel cleared his throat.

“Doctor…we’re self-employed. There’s no insurance or the money for something like this. Just the appointment from yesterday will almost wipe out our savings. I don’t…We don’t know what we can do.” Once again there were tears in his eyes, and ones had already started to fall from Ms. Pandel. They both kept their eyes downcast, and held onto each other’s hoof in mutual support.

Dave didn’t allow the smile to form on his muzzle, but he did allow it to enter his voice, “Fortunately, you don’t need to worry about that.” Both zebras looked up at him, expressions of confusion on both their faces. Grant hadn’t been quite as successful at hiding his smile, as he knew what was coming.  
  
“Once you came under our care, all your medical expenses are covered by the Centre itself.” Now he allowed his smile to show. “Everything, including the consultation yesterday will be fully handled by us.”

Tears once again flowed from the two zebras, but for once they weren’t tears of grief.

* * *

 

After getting Ms. Pandel admitted, Dave caught up with Grant in the hall.

“OK, how did you know?” Dave asked “I was suspicious, and was headed down that path myself, but I looked at the ECG earlier, and thought there was something funny with the QRS complex, but what made you suspect it?”

“You expect me to divulge all my secrets Doc?” the rabbit replied with a smile, but he then continued “Actually it was from a case with Dr. Pawson a few months ago. The same condition came up in a canine couple, also sent here care of Dr. Lamboski, and Dr. Pawson pointed out that the ECG didn’t match what she was seeing on screen. She was the one who showed me how the reduced ventricle could be masked if the angle was off.”

“Good to know. I was hoping for some kind of psychic sense that we could use, but practical experience will have to do.” He smiled and put his paw on the other mammals shoulder “Thanks again for helping there. I was expecting that to have a very different ending.”

Grant returned the smile, but then looked away, and a frown formed on his muzzle. “Is there anything we can do about that idiot over in General?” He asked “That condition would have been caught by Dr. Abrams at the follow-up easily if he had kept them over there, and he’s done this to us way too many times.”

Dave thought about the question. Dr. Abrams was one of the cardiologists over at Zootopia General, and Grant was right that a consultation with him would have come to the same conclusion. Dr. Lamboski had panicked and sent them here, but in this case it had worked out for the best.

“He’s too senior for anything aside from gross malpractice to stick” Dave said glumly “and you’ll note that he has never actually misdiagnosed anything he’s sent over here. In fact he very rarely makes any mention of specifically why he sends patients here. By all accounts, he’s a good OBGYN, but he’s a coward at heart.” He looked back at Grant “This time, it was an error in our favor, we don’t get enough of those to look them in the mouth.” 

He started walking back up to the nurse’s station with Grant. “I’ll text Laura and have her see them as soon as she gets in. She might want to go over the chart with you as well.”

“I’ll be here until 6, so that should be fine.” Grant replied, peeling off from Dave and heading for Exam 2 again. Before entering into the room he looked back at Dave “and you’re right Dave. Having a win for once means a lot more than you’d think.”

Dave continued on his way, and quickly sent Laura a message regarding the Pandels. She would be coming in around 3, so they shouldn’t have to wait long.

When he reached the nurse’s station, Dave saw that Mina was now manning the desk. The sheep looked up at him and had a somber look on her face.

“What happened Mina?” Dave asked.

“Dr. Willow just sent word that Ms. White miscarried a short while ago.” The news wasn’t unexpected, but the sense of victory from earlier quickly turned to ash as the reality of this place settled in again. “Doug’s coming down with the remains for you.” She continued.

“I’ll meet him at the elevator.” Dave said, once again allowing his barriers to form in earnest.

* * *

 

The container was small in his paws. The opaque plastic concealing the contents from those around it.  The weight he felt though was more than what something so small should have been.

 After meeting Doug Mills at the elevator, and taking charge of the remains, he had taken the elevator down to the basement, and towards the lab facilities of the Centre. This was where most of their work was done, as their clinical successes were such rare events, and utterly unheard of in relation to their overall mission.

His paws held another failure on their part, but now was the chance to try and make something of that failure.

He swiped his key card and entered into the outer chamber and airlock. There was a constant stream of air following him until the door sealed again. The labs were maintained at a slightly lower air pressure as a safety precaution to prevent contamination to the rest of the facility if something were to happen. They only handled up to biosafety level 3 here, but being cautious was never a bad thing when dealing with pathogens, particularly engineered ones.

He placed the container into a tray by the internal door, fully submerging it into a pool of disinfectant before pushing the tray closed and moving the container into the lab proper.

He himself then went about removing his clothing, and showering before putting on a full set of scrubs, including a hood and muzzle mask, along with 2 layers of gloves. He didn’t put on impermeable protective gear that would have been required if he was going to work in the BSL 3 portion of the lab, but some level of protection was necessary.

Once all was in place, he checked the seals on both doors, and opened the inner door to access the lab proper. Several mammals were all working on various projects at any given time, and the lab had a more manic feel than the rest of the Centre. A he was reaching over the retrieve the container from the decontamination bath, a small voice spoke behind him.

“Dave!” He looked down and saw a mouse in similar protective gear standing on a bench to his right. She was struggling with a plastic chip almost as big as her that was the main flow cell for the short read sequencer. “Could you give me a hand?”

“No problem Beth” Dave replied and walked over to pick up the flow cell and slot it into the appropriate chamber. That one flow cell would generate almost half a trillion base pairs of sequence information over the next 2 days. “What samples are these?” He asked, genuinely curious about all the goings on in the lab. He was only able to spend about a third of his time down here, so he had to make an effort to keep up with the dedicated research staff.

“Those are Jim’s RNA libraries from last night’s samples for transcriptome sequencing, and I think Genevieve and Donny shared a lane for some amplicon sequencing of their Cervid stem cell cultures.” The mouse replied, able to operate the appropriately sized computer next to the sequencer. “You know this stuff would be much easier to handle if you bigwigs would let me get the MiniSeq.”

“Well considering that it’s Mr. Higgens who’s supposed to run the BGSeq, and the little fact that the MiniSeq only produces a tenth of the data of the larger unit, I’m afraid that you’re stuck using the rest of us as your servants.” Dave said only slightly mockingly. There was no way to see his smile under all the protective equipment, but Beth stomped her hind paw on the ground theatrically.

Dr. Brisby was one of the first members of the research staff brought on by the Centre, and her focus on trying to understand and manipulate chromosome pairing was something to be seen. What she wasn’t was patient, and waiting for the hippo sequencing tech, who was half listening to them while he finished the library preps he was working on, when there was data to be generated wasn’t something she was willing to do.

“Beth, I told you that I’d be done in 5 minutes. I’m just waiting for the bioanalyzer to check the library quality.” The hippo didn’t look up from his work, as the machine in front of him checked the size of the individual DNA fragments.

Dave moved back to the door and retrieved the container from the bath. “Arnold, I’ll have some new tissue samples ready in a bit. I’ll want full transcriptome runs for all the tissue types, and a reference genome assembly as well.”

The hippo gave it some thought “I can probably get the libraries prepped tonight, and get them running on machine 4 tomorrow. You’ll have the results sometime Thursday.” He replied.

“That’s fine, it will take me that long to get the rest of the samples mounted and stained.” Dave said, moving towards his bench in the middle of the lab. Grabbing a Dewar flask of liquid nitrogen as he went.

Setting down the container, he picked up a scalpel and cut the tape sealing the lid in place. Steeling himself, he opened the lid and picked up the small glass dish inside.

The fetus itself was almost intact. A small feline form could clearly be made out, although the limbs were little more than twisted stumps. Tubes of formamide preservative were lined up in front of him, as were clean tubes ready to be snap frozen in the waiting nitrogen. He moved the small form to the dissecting microscope and forced the mammalian part of him aside as he began a grim harvest.

He worked quickly. His scalpel and forceps removed samples of various organs and tissues. Small bits of bone, muscle, skin, and so many others made their way to the various tubes. Some of these he froze to preserve the DNA and RNA in its current state. Others he submerged in fixative solution to preserve the individual cells for later analysis. They would be sectioned and mounted on slides for histological analysis. Cells would be karyotyped and the chromosomes labeled with fluorescent probes and markers. All of it would hopefully provide some insight into what had gone wrong… _”and maybe we can come closer to fixing it in the future”_ the tiny ember of hope spoke in his mind.

When he was done, he double checked the labels on all the tubes, and made several notes in the lab book he kept on the bench. He took the frozen samples to Higgins, who motioned for them to be placed in the -80˚C freezer for later processing.

He went back to his bench and place the remains back into the opaque container, and carefully placed them into a fridge off to the side of the main lab. He would need to perform one final task with those, but that was something for later.

The samples in the fixative would need time before he could process them, so he went over to one of the workstations on the far wall and began looking over the sequence data from his last set of samples.

He really needed to take a couple of days and complete the comparative analyses that he had accumulated over the past three months. During that time, the Centre had had an unfortunate upswing in the number of Canid and Mustelid cases, but the amount of data that it had generated could represent a huge boon when it came to understanding the genetic barriers between the more closely related groups.

_“Abbigail has been busy.”_ He noted, as many of the sequence files had already been assembled and annotated. He paused briefly, thinking about another set of data points that would be added shortly from the Clawsons. He shook himself and focused back on the data in front of him.

“Dr. Hawthorne!” A voice from the entrance to the lab called out. “I have a sample for you.”

Dave looked back and saw Sara through the observation window. She wasn’t cleared for entry into the lab, but staff delivering materials to the lab was nothing new. He made his way back to the entrance and frowned under his mask at the container he saw had been pushed through the decontamination bath.

“What’s this Sara?” Dave asked, pressing the button on the intercom to speak to her. He wasn’t expecting any additional samples today. The Clawsons wouldn’t be back for a few days he guessed, and he would have been contacted if Ms. Woodman had miscarried.

“Dr. Kent finished the D&E on Ms. Woodman and wanted the samples prepped immediately.” She said. There wasn’t any hesitation in her voice, but she saw the look in his eyes and knew something wasn’t right.

“What do you mean he finished the procedure?” His voice had the smallest hint of a growl to it as he spoke. He couldn’t help it. Ms. Woodman was his patient, and if what he thought had just happened was accurate, it was going to be the first of many slips for him.

“Oh no.” The bobcat started “Doug and I…we thought that it was authorized by you. Dr. Kent went in to talk with them after Ms. Antlerson got her settled. He started prepping her almost immediately after that, and had us assist.”

Dave closed his eyes and let out a long sigh before pressing the intercom again “It’s not your fault. Go back up to Ms. Woodman’s room and stay with her until Ellen get there. Is her fiancé still with her?” Dave asked.

“He was in the waiting room when I left, but he’s probably with her now.” She replied.

“Good, don’t leave them alone for now. I’ll be up as soon as I can.” Dave retrieved the container from the bath and moved it back to his bench. He didn’t open it right away though, instead he moved to the back of the lab and the small conference room that was kept there. It was rarely used, as very few mammals wanted to engage in long meetings while swaddled in personal protective equipment, but it did have a phone.

He dialed Ellen’s number from memory and the phone rang twice before she picked up.

“Ellen Antlerson speaking.” Her voice came through with a pleasant tone.

“Ellen, it’s Dave. You need to get up to Ms. Woodman’s room ASAP.” His voice was measured, but the urgency still carried through.

“Why, what happened?” She asked, he could hear a door open in the background as she started moving.

“Jason went ahead and performed a D&E on her.” He didn’t manage to fully conceal the anger in his voice.

“That arrogant prick.” She said quietly. He heard additional mumbling on the other end, but he couldn’t make out what was said. “Was there ANY medical reason for it to happen this quickly?”

“Not from my examination.” He answered “I hadn’t even mentioned the procedure yet, as we were still in the window where she could miscarry. That jackass knows that we have a 24 hour waiting period, but unless I miss my guess, he saw an opportunity to collect some tissue for his pet project and didn’t want to wait.”

He heard an intake of breath from Ellen and a pause before she spoke, “What? But why?”

“It doesn’t matter, Ellen. We’ve got to deal with his mess.” He looked back towards his bench and thought about just leaving the remains where they were…but he couldn’t. Doing that would make the whole affair amount to nothing “I’ll need about an hour to get the samples prepped and then I’ll be up to speak with them. Call me if it gets bad and I’ll be right up…and call Drs. Wilson, Cerval, and Pawson when you can. We’ll need to do something about this, and I’m not sure I trust myself to deal with it solo.”

A growl forced its way through his muzzle as he visualized various was he’d like to “deal” with the situation. He forced those thoughts back down

“I’ll have to see what we’re dealing with Dave, so you should have time.” Her voice took on an even more worried tone “He didn’t even give them a chance to mourn. What kind of mammal does that?”

“You’re more qualified than me to answer that. I have no fucking clue what’s going on in his head.” He looked at the clock and saw that almost 10 minutes had passed since the remains had arrived. “I’ve got to get started Ellen.”

“Take care Dave, and don’t do anything we’ll all regret.” She cautioned before hanging up.

Dave made his way back to his bench, changed his outer gloves and the blade of his scalpel, and then opened the container. His contempt for Dr. Jason Kent grew even greater as he looked at the mess inside.

He hadn’t bothered to even attempt an intact extraction _“Then again he didn’t have the time for that.”_ He thought grimly. _“He waited the absolute minimum time before starting the extraction.”_ The evidence of that was plainly in front of him. The fetus was in several pieces in the glass tray. The tissue damage along the small joints and abdomen was severe.

It was all still very recognizable, having seen its image through the ultrasound only hours previously. Dave slammed his shields back into place and carefully moved the remains to his dissecting scope, and began the harvest again.

* * *

 

He had pushed himself to finish the sample collection as quickly as possible, but it had still taken him 40 minutes for him to have them settled away. He also cut the requisite shower down to the minimum allowed, but it was still almost a full hour before he had been able to make it up to the private room where Ms. Woodman and Mr. Chipworth.

The two beavers where together on the same bed. They held onto each other fiercely, but both were shaking in their grief. Ellen was right beside them holding onto both of them while they cried. They grieved the loss of control, the loss of possibilities, the loss of choice, loss, loss, loss, over and over again.

Even with all they had already suffered through, there was still more for them to lose.

He walked into the room and sat beside the couple and added his own paw to their private gathering.

“Ms. Woodman, Mr. Chipworth I am very sorry for what’s happened…” The words stopped, and he realized that he simply didn’t have anything he could say. He moved closer and just held onto them with Ellen, as they tried to help them, to take away some of their pain.

The sat there for a long time. No one speaking. Just four mammals in pain, trying to put the pieces back together.

* * *

 

He had only been able to stay with them for a half an hour. It was both nowhere near enough, but also far too much time for him to spend in one place. He was summoned from the room when Drs. Wilson and Pawson had showed up and taken him to one of the conference rooms on the ward floor.

They had decided to let Jim stay home and sleep, as he was due to return for rounds that night. The three of them were enough to hash out how they would handle this. Dr. Douglas Wilson was the senior physician and a member of the board of directors for the Centre. He was the one who came up with the plan that would hopefully manage to get something through the thick skull of Dr. Kent.

That was how Dave ended up standing alone in the conference room when a deer in scrubs entered. “You asked to see me Dave?” Jason asked calmly. He showed no apprehension, no shame even though he must have had some inkling of what was behind this meeting.

“Shut the door Jason.” Forcing himself to keep the next sentence calm Dave answered once the deer had closed the conference room door, “You should know that I asked Doug and Laura to join us here.”

Not giving the deer a chance to think on this, he allowed his mask to slip and bared his teeth as he next spoke. “What the FUCK did you think you were doing to MY PATIENT?” The last two words came through with a vicious snarl as he let his anger come through.

Not giving Jason a chance to answer, he continued on, more calmly, but with utter steel in his voice, “What do the rules state about the allowed timeframe from notification of the patient to the suggestion of a Dilation and Extraction procedure?” he asked.

“I don’t see the point in this Dave.” The deer replied, cocking his head to one side in what appeared to be actual confusion.

“Let me be more clear.” he said walking towards the deer “WHAT DO THE RULES SAY YOU JACKASS!”

“Oh please, you know as well as I do that the 24 hour rule doesn’t take into account the rapidity of RNA degradation. You look at a sample wrong and the RNA gets broken down. The fetus was dead, and we were losing valuable data by waiting.” He hadn’t responded to Dave’s approach or his anger, and his voice was still completely calm.

Dave was actually stunned, but he forced himself to continue. They had to get all the details down if this was going to work. “Were you the one who recommended the procedure to Mr. Woodman?” he asked.

“Of course! I know you wouldn’t have done it yet, and that sample was too important!” There was finally some emotion in his words, but they were of excitement not penance or understanding.

“So because you wanted something for your pet research project, you disregarded our established procedures and you endangered the mental health of one of my patients?” He fought to maintain control. They were so close.

“Oh don’t be melodramatic. Your patient was fine when I left her.” Dave couldn’t believe the arrogance in Jason voice.  
  
Dave took a moment before speaking again. “Ellen spent over two hours with them just getting them to a state where Ms. Woodman could speak. I was there for the last half hour of that. They were both very far from fine. YOU DIDN’T GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO GRIEVE!” He shouted back.

Dave paced around the table, “Do you seriously not get it? Do you have no understanding of why that waiting period is in place?” He fixed his gaze on Jason “Mammals need time to accept loss. That’s basic psychology, you idiot!”

“I think I’ve had quite enough of this.” Jason spoke, waving a hoof towards Dave. “The examination of the fetus represents our best chance to learn about these incompatibilities and move to fix them. The fact also remains that I’m senior to you here, and I don’t think you want to press this.”

“I’m not so sure about that Dr. Kent.” Doug’s voice emerged from the speaker in the middle of the table.

The deer’s face froze as the realization dawned on him. _“…I asked Doug and Laura to join us here.”_ The words from earlier filtered back to him. “You set me up you little shit!” He spat at Dave. Finally there was emotion in his voice. Only now that there were personal consequences on the line did Dr. Jason Kent finally display anything other than a calm detachment.

“Actually it was my idea.” Came Doug’s voice again. “Dr. Hawthorne just played the role I asked him to. This mess is entirely on you though.” There was a pause before Doug continued “What I want to do is haul you before the ZMA and get your license revoked, but that would leave us down a mammal, and even someone as callous as you is better than nothing.”

The deer relaxed slightly, realizing that he wasn’t going to be fired…regardless of how much he deserved to be. Dave lamented the fact that the Centre had had an open postings for physicians, nurses and techs for years, and even offering salaries 4-6 times greater than what was offered at Zootopia General, they hadn’t had any applicants for some time.  He was the last physician hired, and that had been 6 years ago.

“What I can do however is limit the damage that you can do. For the next month, you’re to limit yourself to lab activities only. I don’t want you even looking at any patients.” Doug’s voice was cold, and there was a real threat underneath. “After that, EVERY order that you make will have to be countersigned by at least one other attending physician. If you are going to display a worse understanding of medical ethics than a first year intern, we’re going to treat you as such, and the entire staff WILL know about it.”

Jason’s face scrunched up is a grimace of disgust. “And what makes you think I’ll accept this?”

Dave’s voice was icily calm “Because if you leave, we’ll have no reason not to report you to the ZMA.”

“That’s blackmail!” Jason shouted.

“Yes it is, but it’s remarkably effective wouldn’t you say?” Laura Pawson’s voice piped in from the speaker.

“Jason, I fully acknowledge that we are forcing you to work in what will probably be a toxic environment for you.” Doug continued on “Quite frankly, I don’t care about that. Take this as a chance to focus on your research. It seems to be all you care about, so this could work out in your favor.”

Jason started to head towards the door, but Dave held up his paw. “On the note of a toxic workplace Jason, I have one other thing to say.”

He let his mask fully slip again, and with a speed that seemed incongruous with his size he dashed forward, catching the deer off guard. He slammed Jason against the wall of the conference room, his forearm pressed against his throat, forcing the cervid onto the tips of his hooves. His teeth were bared in a full snarl, only inches away from the now shaking deer’s face.

Dave’s voice was quiet with ice and menace, the underlying growl vibrating through the room. “If you ever hurt one of my patients again, we will have far more than words. Have I made myself clear?”

Jason nodded his head repeatedly, and Dave let him fall to the floor. The deer was coughing heavily as he struggled to his feet and fumbled with the door, never taking his eyes off of the now eerily calm wolf in the room.

Once Jason had left the room. Dave allowed himself to take a deep breath.

“You know Dave, we just had a whole lot of static come through the line.” Laura’s voice was clear with meaning, and amusement “Did Doug and I miss anything?”

“Nothing important I think.” Dave managed with a small smile on his muzzle. “I’m fairly sure that Dr. Kent knows where he stands with us.

“Good, oh and Dave,” Doug’s voice also held some amusement “Try not to be so hard on the walls next time. We just had the conference room repainted last month.”

_“It was good to have friends and colleagues who cared more about their patients than protocols.”_ Dave thought to himself. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you both for coming in to deal with this.” He stopped for a moment “Oh and Laura, did you have a chance to speak with the Pandels yet?”

They quickly degenerated to discussing the remaining cases at the Centre. Only stopping when the ridiculousness of continuing to use the speaker phone when they were next door to each other forced Dave to head over to speak to them face to face.

* * *

 

With the impromptu meeting out of the way, Dave headed to the staff lounge for a moment. He hadn’t stopped for lunch, and his energy was flagging. He pulled one of the innumerable frozen meals from his shelf of the freezer and tossed it into the microwave.

While he was waiting for his lunch to cook, he felt his phone vibrate. When he pulled it out, he was greeted to a call display showing him and a female coyote holding each other in front of Mac’s, a local watering hole. With a smile he hit the accept icon on screen.

“Hey hon, how’s your day been?” he asked with genuine warmth in his voice.

“Busy as usual.” Came the reply. Her voice was clipped and measured, but there was no hiding the affection underlying it. “Morning strategy meeting with Captain Taft, a seminar with some bigwigs from ZAF, then two training session with ZPD. One more of those to go for the day. How about you? You still good for tonight?”

“It’s been a bad one Carol.” He sighed as the weight of the day pressed down on him. _“It really has been a bad one hasn’t it?”_ he asked himself internally. It hadn’t even been 10 hours and he was already feeling drained.

“Can I get a raincheck on the restaurant for tonight, and bug you for one of your special therapy sessions?” He asked with a bit of mischief in his voice.

“Well I don’t know.” She played along for a while, but eventually relented. “ZPD should be done here by 7. You’ll drop by the salle I’m guessing?”

“You know it.” A smile creased his muzzle.

“Good…just so you know I’m going to make you pay for that raincheck.” She added and he felt his ribs ache in premonition.

“Thanks, and I love you.” He said as the beep from the microwave signaled his meal was ready.

“Love you too. See you at 7. Bye!” She ended the call.

_“I really lucked out when I met her.”_ He couldn’t help but smile at the thought. He even managed to keep smiling as he tucked into the soy…something or other in the plastic tray.

“ _Eh, it’s still better than the cafeteria food.”_

* * *

 

The rest of the shift had gone on without incident. Two new patients had been admitted for observation. Both had either lost their child, or were about to. It was another set of failures for the Centre, but that was normal.

Before leaving for the day, Dave made one more trip down to the lab. After getting changed and making his way through the airlock, he walked over to the fridge, and retrieved the two opaque containers. With a reverence that all the staff held when performing this last duty he walked over to the double doors at the rear of the facility, and entered into the crematorium, turning on the lights as he passed by.

Just inside the door was an old computer, with a still functioning CRT monitor. It was open onto a single spreadsheet. Dave took one of the adhesive labels from the pile beside the computer and carefully wrote a name on it.

“Brian Allan Woodman”

They had decided learn a bit more about him in their time of grief, and had given him a name of his own. This was his legal name, and the parents had been given the forms to make it official if they so choose to. He didn’t know if they would, but the remains would be treated and returned as they requested.

After affixing the label to the container, Dave looked over to the computer, and the next entry on the spreadsheet. He marked an X in the adjacent cell, and took another label from the pile. A second name was carefully written down.

“Alyssa Elizabeth Honeywell”

This wasn’t her legal name. There would never be any record of that. On the official documents, she was a miscarriage, but the Honeywells had been very clear in their wishes. No child would leave the Centre nameless. Any time the parents refused to claim the remains, they were to be added to the growing list of the Honeywells’ foundlings.

As of now, the Honeywell family had 3,123 members.

The cremated remains would be interred in the mausoleum they would share with their surrogate parents. It was a ceremony that they held once a year, and only the Centre’s staff attended. To everyone else, they were just a footnote in a patient’s chart, but here they were family.

Dave tucked the containers into the fridge off in the corner of the room, placing them gently next to the other ones it contained. The night staff would handle the actual cremation. City ordinances meant that it could only be operated at night, but in the morning, the small filled urns would be placed in the nearby storage room. Ellen would deliver Biran’s remains to his parents, although when was a question that she would need to meet with them to discuss.

He turned off the lights and made his way out of the Centre. There was life outside these walls, and it was time to remind himself about it.

* * *

 

**End Notes Part 1:**

Well this chapter was extremely hard to write for me. I’m not sure why, but the last scene took me an hour to make it through, and I was actually crying when I finished it. It was meant to just be a further description of the overall role of the Centre, but the words just hit me like a truck.

And yes, Jason is based on the combined personalities of several researchers that I have known through the years. Professional ethics were little more than barriers on their path to greatness…at least in their own minds. It is really quite amazing to work in places where you get to meet people who are so astoundingly brilliant, but lack even the most basic level of empathy.

Many years ago, there was an interesting paper showing the levels of Asperger’s and Autism Spectrum Disorders in various scientific fields. The interesting part was the more research based professions, ones with little human to human contact also showed the highest levels of ASD, and this matches with what is often seen in research environments. 

In a just world, people like that would never find themselves in a position where they could place their ambitions over the good of others, but reality isn’t just, and in the end these people can make discoveries that change the world.

One of the most disturbing historical facts that I learned as an undergrad was how much of the research done by the utter monster Dr. Josef Mengele during the holocaust is still referenced to this day. He was an animal, who performed utterly sadistic experiments on captured Jews, even and especially children (whom he was paradoxically reported as being quite kind to). These types of experiments should NEVER have been performed, but they were, and the scientific world was left with a dilemma. Do we make use of the data and try to make good of it, or do we destroy it and make the sacrifices meaningless?

The world decided to use the results, as tainted as they were, and they did go and further scientific discovery for decades to come…mainly because no one in their right mind would ever go about repeating them.

Regardless, it’s science time! So I glossed over a lot of stuff in relation to the lab, as it wasn’t important for the scene, but it is something that I’d like to go into…partially because the genomics aspect is quite literally my day job.

As a bit of background, the basic dogma of molecular biology is that DNA is transcribed into RNA, which is then translated into Protein. This is the normal process that occurs in every cell in your body, and although there are numerous examples of it working differently, as in retroviruses which have a DNA-RNA-DNA pathway for part of their replication, this leads to the development of multiple levels of ‘Omics’ in biology.

* * *

 

**Genomics:** Predominantly deals with the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. The DNA part of the sequence. In plants, there are also plastid genomes to consider (chloroplasts), but the key feature is that every cell has the same DNA information within it (spontaneous mutations excepted).

This information can be used to identify regions of the genome that are conserved, or have changed between individuals, species, or higher taxonomic levels.

**Transcriptomics:** This is the next level up and deals with the RNA present in the cell. We generally are talking about messenger RNA (mRNA), the RNA fragments that are transcribed into proteins, but there is a whole class of regulatory RNAs (siRNA, miRNA), ribosomal RNAs, and transfer RNAs. The important thing is that these are VARIABLE between cells.

Although every nucleated cell has a copy of the genomic DNA, that merely represents all of the pages in a cook book. When it comes down to making an individual recipe (a given cell type, a certain metabolic pathway), what matters is what ingredients you have in place. This is where the transcriptome becomes essential.

Turning on and off various genes is an essential part of cell differentiation and function. Obviously, a neuron is going to require different regulatory proteins than an epithelial cell. Because of this, the RNA content of a given cell will vary according to cell type, but also vary over time, and change as a result of environmental factors.

When we sequence the RNA of an organism (RNASeq), we create a snapshot of what genes are being expressed at that point in time. This is why, in controlled experiments, a researcher will often take samples at multiple time points, to observe this variation. 

**Proteomics:** The next level up is to look at the proteins that are present in a cell. You might wonder why this would be needed. If you have the transcriptome information, why do you need to also have the proteome? Doesn’t one lead to the other?

The thing is that, no, it might not. Not all RNA is destined to become protein. In some cases mRNA for a particular gene is always present at some level in the cell, but it requires a final step in processing before it will be translated into a protein. In other cases, the RNA is never destined to become a protein, and is instead chopped up into small fragments (20-25bp) which then go on to degrade other RNA molecules (sometimes called RNA silencing).

Additionally, some proteins are quite long lived, and might be present in a cell long after the mRNA that encoded them has been degraded.

**Metabolomics:** This is where things get crazy, as it represents the synthesis of all three previous omic levels. At this level, we’re trying to model ALL the metabolic processes in a cell. This is something that we actually can’t really do right now, as there are still so many unknowns when it comes to gene function.

Want proof? Head over to NCBI and look through the human genomic or transcriptome information. Look at the number of “Unknown/hypothetical proteins” that are present. Each one of them represents a potential gene that we’ve identified…but we have no bloody clue what it actually does.

**Getting the Information:**

OK, a bit more science and then I’ll let you go.

Modern (Next-Gen) sequencing techniques generally make use of Massively Parallel Sequencing Systems. As opposed to the older Sanger-based sequencing, which relied on specific primers (small synthetic fragments of DNA that target a region of the genome) to amplify and sequence a specific piece of DNA, next-gen platforms can eschew specificity and generate billions of DNA fragments from all over the genome at the same time.

There are ways to target this process, with through the use of specific primers, different methods to cut the genomic DNA into fragments, ect but the end result is billions of pieces of DNA.

The length of these fragments can vary considerably, and the most well-known platform is from a company called Illumina. Their HiSeq system is used mainly because it is the most price efficient system to generate sequence information, and it can be used on both genomic and transcriptomic analysis. One lane in a HiSeq can generate >30Gbp (30,000,000,000bp) of sequence information…and it can run 16 lanes at a time. The cost per lane is about $2700CAD, so it’s entirely possible to generate enough data to fully assemble a genome for only a few thousand dollars.

The problem with the HiSeq? The individual fragments are usually 150-300bp long. When we consider that genomes contain repetitive regions where the tandem repeats (same sequence of DNA over and over) can get into the killobase range, you should start to see a problem.

Other platforms can sequence the DNA in much larger fragments. PacBio can produce reads >30,000bp, but each run only generates a small fraction of the output of a HiSeq. A quick back of the envelope calculation for the RSII sequencer says that a full run of the PacBio system will yield about 7Gbp of sequence info…the full run of a HiSeq3500 gives almost 1Tbp.

**How do you put the pieces together?**

One way around it is to use what are called mate-paired libraries. Rather than randomly fragmenting the DNA, you select for fragments of a particular size, say 2.5kb, 5kb and 10kb. You then sequence this library from both ends. What you now have is a few hundred bp of sequence on both the ends…but you also know how much space is between those two ends. As a result, you can align these fragments based on how similar they are to other pieces in a process called scaffolding.

So you have billions of puzzle pieces. How do you put them together?

The first question anyone who’s put together a puzzle should ask is do you have a picture of what it should look like at the end? Assembling the fragments to a previously assembled genome is called a reference assembly. When you hear about companies offering to sequence DNA for a few hundred or thousand bucks, this is what they’re doing.

Software compared the individual pieces with the already sequenced genome and then aligns them to the reference sequence. You can still detect small changes in the sequence, and this is why the technique is very useful for diagnosing conditions that are caused by simple mutations, but large scale changes in the genome will be missed.

When this is the case, you need to perform a _de novo_ assembly…and this is where the pain begins. Software compares the sequence of each of the fragments with ALL of the other fragments and starts to look for regions where they overlap. Where a significant overlap occurs, the two fragments are joined together, and the process is repeated until you have a bunch of contiguous regions (contigs) that make up the genome of the organism.

Doing this generally takes months to years…as opposed to hours for a reference assembly, and for organisms with large number of repeat regions, chromosomal level assemblies are exceedingly difficult, and require more long read sequencing to pull off.

* * *

**Other Minor Notes:**

**Tissue Fixation:** After death, cells start to break down as part of the natural decomposition of organic matter. Obviously, when dealing with samples that scientists want to look at, this isn’t a good thing. There are many ways of preserving tissue, and among the most common is the use of formaldehyde (or formamide). Anyone who’s had to dissect something for school biology classes knows the smell, but the important thing is that formaldehyde acts to disrupt the decomposition by cross-linking to various protein, DNA, and RNA compounds. Obviously this cross-linking can affect analysis of these compounds down the line, so samples that are going to be sequenced are often preserved using snap freezing and storage a temperatures  <-40oC.

**Histology:** It the microscopic study of the anatomy of cells. Basically, you take fixed tissue and section in VERY thinly and then take those sections and place them onto slides and then look at the results. Various stains and probes can be used to highlight different tissues, but the overall goal is to compare the visual attributes of the cell and see if anything is aberrant, as in the case of a PAP smear of biopsy looking for cancerous cells.

**ECG (Sometimes EKG):** Electrocardiogram. This is a type of measurement that records the action potential (electrical charge) of the heart at various stages of contraction and relaxation. The stereotypical heart monitor with the single line showing various peaks and valleys is an example of this. The important thing to note is that the distance between those various peaks, as well as the size of them can provide an enormous amount of diagnostic information to a medical professional…or might just indicate a loose connection.

**Univentricular Isomerism:** This is an interesting heart defect where the ventricles, the two large chambers at the base of the heart, fail to separate, and instead form a single large ventricle. The 4 valves of the heart remain in place and the end result is that with each beat of the heart, oxygenated blood from the lungs, as well as anoxic blood returning from the body mix in the single ventricle before being pushed out into both the aorta, and pulmonary arteries.

The effect of this can be serious or completely manageable in humans. It does mean that the blood circulating through the body can have lower oxygen levels, and this can have an effect on overall performance, but there are many instances of people living with this condition for years.

Surgical procedures to repair this can include techniques to have the single ventricle only pump blood into the aorta, and having passive pressure force blood from the vena cava into the pulmonary artery, to more complex procedures up to and including a heart transplant.

Unfortunately, for many larger species, the condition has only been observed in stillborn animals, or in ones that die quickly after birth. Information on this is quite limited, as it MAY be possible for them to live normally (autopsies are rarely done), but the literature seems to indicate that this would be very bad news for any large mammal.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that will wrap things up for today. I hope that you enjoyed this latest chapter, and fear not, the next chapter will be something quite different. We’ve seen life in the Centre, but there is more out there than that. Chapter 4 will be a slice of life, about Dave’s activities outside of work.
> 
> New characters, new places, some possible cameos (no not them), and a marked lack of depression.
> 
> Trust me, after writing this chapter, I need it as much as you.
> 
> Once again my thanks to all the readers out there. AO3 and FanFiction combined, this story is now at almost 400 reads…something I honestly never considered would happen.
> 
> If you have any questions, leave a comment or send a PM. I really have enjoyed the conversations that this and other fics have given rise to, and I look forward to future ones.
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Eng050599


	4. Chapter 4: Respite and Reminiscing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again thank you to all the readers who have stuck with this story. A particular thanks to those who have taken the time to comment or review.
> 
> From AO3:
> 
> WolfGuardMiestwin: Thanks for your comments and questions. Sorry the answers couldn’t be happier ones, but that’s what I get for grounding this story in “reality”
> 
> WildHopps: I do still feel bad for interrupting your dinner. As always your input has been amazingly helpful, and thank you for letting me bounce ideas off you for how to work “them” in without it seeming forced or corny. 
> 
> From Fanfiction:
> 
> TheCatweazle: As always I value your comments, and I’m glad that the story continues to be the right balance between science and entertainment. 
> 
> With that out of the way, welcome the Chapter 4. A slice of life for our main character, as he recovers from the events of the Centre.

**Chapter 4: Respite and Reminiscing**

* * *

 

After changing out of his scrubs, Dave walked out of the main doors of the Centre towards his parked car. As he looked around, he noticed a small cluster of mammals across the parking lot, in the “smoker’s corner”. Jim stood in his usual spot, flicking the ash away from his cigarette while looking between Doug and Grant Wilson. The two rabbits were obviously having some kind of disagreement, with Doug motioning forcibly with his paws, while Grant continued on.

As Dave approached the trio, he began to hear parts of the conversation. “…it’s her choice if she wants to work here. We need more staff, and she’s been headed this way for years now, and you know it.” Grant crossed his arms over his chest and gave Doug a stern look.

Doug sighed, and held his paw up to his eyes and rubbed them tiredly. “This place isn’t kind to mammals. You two…” His ear twitched towards Dave’s approach as he was noticed “you three know that.”

“I think I missed something Doug. What’s going on? And Jim you’re not due in for hours yet, what gives?” Dave asked, not quite grasping the meaning of the conversation that he was suddenly included in.

“I couldn’t sleep. Dianne and the kids are visiting my folks, and given what happened earlier I thought I’d head in.” Jim answered the latter question first. He reached into his shirt’s front pocket and retrieved a pack of cigarettes, offering one to Dave.

Dave held up his paw and shook his head “No thanks Jim, I’m down to just the one a day. Carol asked me to quit for her birthday, and I’m not going to disappoint her.” He stuck his paws into his pant pockets to resist the urge to take the proffered smoke.

“Traitor!” The antelope said in mock indignation.

Looking to the two rabbits Dave continued, “So I’m guessing that Melissa has asked to join our merry band of misfits, and that you’re not too happy about it Doug? I didn’t think she was done her residency training yet though.” He knew that Doug had 15 children, of whom Melissa and Grant were part of the oldest litter. Melissa had made it through med school and was working on her OBGYN residency over at Zootopia General. That she wanted to join the Centre was news to him though.

It was Grant that answered him “She told dad she wanted to start with the Centre when she’s wrapped up her current rotation. She’ll be done in 3 months I think.”  

“Just having her residency training isn’t enough for a place like this.” Doug countered, gesturing back to the glass and steel building behind him. “She needs more time in a traditional setting before she should make that choice.”

“I was just out of my residency when you hired me Doug.” Dave said, cocking his head with some confusion. “No one on the hiring committee even batted an eye that I was a complete neophyte from an experience perspective.”

“Not the same thing at all Dave.” Doug lifted one finger on his paw before he continued. “First you weren’t fresh off your first residency, it was your second.” A second digit lifted up “You also had completed your dissertation the year previously, and had some post-doc experience.” A third finger lifted but Doug paused before speaking “You also had a record of dealing with high stress situations.” He lowered his paw “Melissa doesn’t have those qualities yet.”

“Cut the crap dad! She’s worked towards this for years, and she also handled the NICU portion of her rotation better than any other student in memory.” Grant looked towards his father and put a paw on his shoulder. “She knew she wanted to be here, so she made sure to throw herself right into the fire to prepare herself for it.”

Grant’s voice grew quieter when he next spoke, “You want to protect her, but she wants this. She’s wanted it since you started up the Centre. It’s the reason she even went to med school to begin with.”

“And we need her Doug.” Jim added softly. “This affair with Jason is going to hurt us in the long run unless we can get more mammals in here.” He took another drag from his cigarette and flicked the but away. “Even if that ass locks himself in the lab…which is the best option in my opinion, we need another physician on the floor.”

Dave chose that moment to interject, he looked Doug in the eye, but his words were soft “Doug, we know she’s your daughter, and that this place eats innocence on a daily basis, but Grant and Jim are right.” He held up a paw to forestall Doug’s immediate response, “If there is a real concern that she lacks the ability to work here, that’s one thing, but if this is you just trying to shield her from the world, it’s not fair to her, and it’s not fair to us.”

“Dad, you’ve got three months to think on it…and three months to talk to her about it.” Grant let go of his father’s shoulder and walked towards his car in the lot, lifting a paw to wave a farewell to them. “She wants this dad. She has for years.”

There was an uncomfortable silence among the remaining mammals. The conversation had been a mix of professional and deeply personal family business. Dave was the first to break the silence, “Give it some thought Doug. Jim and I will back you if Melissa really can’t handle it. I can’t speak for Laura and Cat though.”

Doug gave a short chuckle “No one can speak for Catherine. She’s made that abundantly clear.” With a shake of his head, he looked over to Dave, “I’ll give it some thought. Shouldn’t you be off for the night?”

“Yeah, just heading over to Carol’s salle for a bit, then not quite sure.” Dave shrugged, waving to the mammals and accepting the dismissal. “Talk to you in the morning Jim.” He nodded to each mammal and made his way to his car.

Thoughts of the day’s work were still running through his mind, but he pushed them away, and focused on the more pleasant things to come.

* * *

 

It wasn’t far from the Centre to Carol’s studio. It was located in downtown core of Savannah Central, on the ground floor of a relatively new office building. Given the hour, he even managed to find a parking spot out front for once. There were half a dozen ZPD cruisers sharing the small lot, but little else.

He pulled his gym bag out of the trunk, and trotted over to the glass door. _AMCQC_ was all that was written on the entrance, and there was no indication as to exactly what its meaning was, let alone the purpose for the business. The glass on all the windows was opaque, and nothing of the inside was visible.

Those who were invited in knew the meaning quite well. _Adaptive Mammalian Close Quarters Combat_ was a hybrid martial art designed by the Zootopian Armed Forces to deal with the challenges presented by mixed species units. It was very new, and in truth still being developed and refined. It had no public face at this time, as only the military, the ZPD and a few other government branches made use of it.

As far as he knew, he was the only civilian to actively train in it, and that was only because of his relationship to former Sargent Carol Latrans. That was a two edged sword if he ever knew of one. On one paw it was physically and mentally challenging. On the other, ever since meeting Carol, the most terrifying words he could hear at home were, “Dave, can I try something out on you?”

As he approached the door, a group of mammals in ZPD sweats exited the building. He recognized at least one of the faces and waved in greeting.

“Hey Doc!” A white and grey wolf waved tiredly back. “Going in for a private session?” He asked, with a wink of his left eye.

Not giving Dave a chance to reply, a large tiger piped in, “Oh so this is the guy?” A toothy smile cracked across his muzzle, “Spitfire in there has some interesting stories about you.”

The other mammals also chuckled at this, and Dave could feel his ears warm at the involuntary blush that crept up his face, but laughed it off. “Good to see you Robert.” He offered his paw to the other mammals, “Dave Hawthorne, nice to meet you.”

The tiger gripped his paw and shook it warmly, “Good to finally meet you. We do appreciate you being the test subject for whatever tortures that crazy woman thinks up.” Dave couldn’t help but smile and wince at that. The tiger continued “I’m Bill and this is Justin, Mark and Sue. The tiger pointed to a mid-sized white wolf, a large lion, and a cheetah in turn.

He offered his paw to each of them in turn, and the group began to break up, heading towards the parked cruisers. “I’d like to say we wore her out for you, but that would be a lie.” The cheetah called back over her shoulder. “I don’t think she’s too happy today.”

Dave winced again, and walked into the building. The front foyer contained very little and still no indication of the business’s purpose. There was a desk that held a phone, and some business cards fanned out in a corner that listed _AMCQC_ and a phone number. No name was listed, and no one was manning the desk. At the back of the room there was a single door with an RFID plate to the right of it. Dave pressed his wallet against the door, and a soft click told him he could enter.

Inside was a single hallway that offered him a choice of three doors. To the left and right were rooms labelled Female and Male, while the door at the end of the hall had another RFID plate beside it. Dave entered into the changing room and put on a set of workout sweats. After removing the access card from his wallet, he closed up his locker and headed to the last door.

The room inside was mostly taken up by woven mats covering the floor, with additional calisthenics equipment along the walls…and in the middle of the room a cheetah in ZPD sweats with his back towards Dave and his paws on his head. Standing in front of the cheetah, was a slim coyote holding a sleek pistol directly at the cheetah’s torso in a one handed grip.

In any other place, it would have been a scene of terror, but in this place, and with that coyote, it made perfect sense. _“This is going to be interesting”_ he thought while he regarded his mate intently, and with more than a little longing.

* * *

 

Carol Latrans had been a stereotypical army brat all her life. Her parents had both been involved with the ZAF, and she had grown up steeped in that atmosphere. All throughout her youth, she had been involved in various cadet groups, and clubs, as well as a range of martial arts. As soon as she graduated from high school, she had eschewed military college, much to her father’s chagrin, and enlisted in the army.

The timing had been fortuitous, as an influx of mammals from outside the traditional predator species had led to the need to update the traditional close combat techniques that the military used. Carol’s background experience, her performance during training and her first deployment, had secured her a place on the development team. She had stayed with them for 7 years before being discharged and becoming a civilian contractor and liaison between the ZAF and the other government agencies.

Most of her time was still spent training with the _AMCQC_ instructors, further refining the techniques, but in recent years, her personal focus had been in adapting the military style for law enforcement agencies. The military variants of the techniques tended to rely on more _permanent_ methods of incapacitating mammals. Those techniques had and were being modified into less lethal variants, and then used to enhance the standard academy training.

He had met Carol 7 years ago, when she was still in the final year of her military enlistment, and they’d been together right from the beginning of this…rather odd setup. He had only been actively training for about 4 years now, but had been involved in quite a few rather unique discussions during the early parts of their courtship.

 _“I wonder how many couples have dinner conversations about the most efficient way to ensure cervical dislocation in a range of mammals?”_ He thought; variations of this same question had crossed his mind repeatedly over the years. While he didn’t particularly enjoy the content of the conversations, he still loved Carol unconditionally, regardless of the differences between their core occupational philosophies. In reality though, he knew that there was only a thin distinction between the two of them. They had both taken lives to save others, the only difference was in the setting.

* * *

 

Dave brought his thoughts back to the present, and the odd tableaux in front of him. This was a disarming exercise, and he watched quietly while the cheetah waited for a chance to move. Carol’s eyes momentarily looked towards Dave, and the officer acted on her apparent distraction. Stepping forward with his left leg, his left paw snaked down and gripped the barrel of the pistol, while his right struck towards the nerve cluster on the inside of the wrist holding the pistol.

It was a standard technique…but he did it wrong. His right paw struck too far above the wrist, and rather than involuntarily loosening her grip on the firearm, she use the push from his left paw to rotate forward and jack-knife her knee into the cheetah’s left kidney. Without dropping her leg, she stomped down on the back of his extended calf, driving it into the ground. The pain, and loss of balance, caused him to arch backwards, and his right arm flailed out trying to regain some stability.

Her paws were not idle during this time, and her right arm rotated the pistol up, while moving his left paw out of her line of attack. Her left paw struck out like a blur, the fleshy part between her thumb and forefinger struck precisely below his larynx. The cheetah fell back to the mat, releasing his grip on the gun, and while coughing violently, held both paws to his throat.

Dave winced at the scene, but at the same time remembered how that particular combination had ended with the ZAF. _“They used stiffened digits and claws for that one.”_ He thought, shuddering slightly at another set of private conversations between the two of them.

Carol stood over the cheetah, and calmly pointed the pistol at his head and pulled the trigger. “Bang” she said quietly, then tossed the replica to the side and crouched down beside the now recovering cheetah. “You’re dead spots.”

Dave couldn’t help but smile as her tone and cadence shifted slightly. When he asked Carol about why she always used that particular voice, as well as the sometimes odd nicknames, when admonishing her ZPD students, she had replied that it related to a universal fear that they had towards a certain drill instructor from the academy. The second most common use came during lectures, when a piercing “You’ll be dead!” could be heard on occasion.

“Now, do you know why you’re dead?” Carol asked, cocking her head to the side as she waited for the cheetah to recover.

“I…” the cheetah coughed again as he rolled onto his front and worked his way to a kneeling position. “I missed the wrist hit again.”

“That you did.” Carol’s left paw lashed out, grabbing Zephyr’s right wrist. “You need to aim here.” She said calmly, as her own thumb dug into the pressure point roughly.

The cheetah winced at the pain, but Carol continued to apply pressure, rotating the wrist so that her student could see exactly where she was pressing. She lessened the hold and moved her thumb a few centimetres further up the wrist, and reapplied pressure with her thumb. This time there was no distress in Zephyr’s face.

“Just that much distance, and you may as well be hitting them with a pillow;” Carol said quietly “you miss that strike, and you will be dead. Not only that, but your mistake could also cost the lives of your team.” Carol released the now thoughtful cheetah, who continued to look at his own wrist and the two faint points of ruffled fur that remained from the ‘lesson’ he had just received.

Standing up and walking over to a stack of towels, she grabbed one and tossed it at the officer. “You’re done for the day.” She said crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the wall. “You just transferred over to Precinct 1 right?” She asked.

“Yeah, I just started there last Friday.” Zephyr answered, grabbing the towel and standing up, only noticing Dave when he looked back towards the door.

Dave gave a nod in greeting, but didn’t have a chance to speak before Carol continued on. “Your next session isn’t until Thursday, and I want you to spend some time practicing with the other officers there.” She paused, her right forefinger tapping the side of her jaw. “My first thought is to pair you up for some sparring with Wolford or Delgato, but I think a couple of sessions with Wilde might be in order.”

“But Wilde cheats!” Zephyr objected.

“No such thing as cheating in a real fight Zephyr.” She admonished him, “Wilde fights dirty, but he’s damn good at it. He knows that his size isn’t an as much of an asset as it is a liability against bigger perps, so he fights smart. Part of that is that he took the time to learn EVERY pressure point I could show him.”

A smile creased her muzzle, as she once again cocked her head to the side. Dave recognized a dangerous twinkle in her eye that spoke volumes of the tortures she was considering for the young officer. “The other option is that I pair you up with Hopps for a round or two. She’s not quite as good at the pressure points as Wilde, but she more than makes up for it with…enthusiasm.”

Her smile was utterly malicious now, and the cheetah’s face went slack. “Not the bunny.” Was all he said.

“Then Wilde it is!” Carol’s voice radiated joy at the decision. “Now get out of here. I’ll message Wilde and you two can work out the details. I expect to see that disarm performed perfectly on Thursday.”

Looking over to Dave, her smile grew slightly warmer. “Would you see Zephyr out? I’ll just get things put away around here.”

Dave nodded, and walked out of the salle with the now very quiet cheetah. “So Zephyr is it? I’m Dave.” Dave asked while offering his paw to the…hopefully recovering officer.

The cheetah looked at the paw for a moment before reaching out to return the gesture, “…Uh yeah, Jake Zephyr.” He looked back towards the now closed door. “Is she always that intense?”

“Actually she was downright pleasant there.” Dave replied with genuine amusement in his voice. “That was just the first time she’s lectured you on that topic, I’m guessing.” The cheetah nodded before Dave continued “My advice, practice that manoeuvre until you get it right. If you don’t have it by Thursday, then you’ll get to see intense.”

The look on Jake’s face was a mixture of fear and resignation as he walked into the locker room. Dave waited outside until the cheetah reappeared, still in his sweats, but now carrying a duffle bag, with the same ZPD monogram on the side. They didn’t speak until they reached the main door when Dave placed his paw on the cheetah’s shoulder.

“She’s tougher than nails, and an unrepentant task master, but she’s also one of the best out there. Learn what you can…and try not to piss her off, and you’ll do fine.”

The cheetah looked him over from top to bottom. “So, you one of the army guys, or one of the spooks?”

“Worse,” he laughed, “her boyfriend.”

Jake considered this before laughing himself, “My sympathies then.” He opened the door and called back over his shoulder, “Good luck, I think you’ll need it.”

Dave waved at the departing figure before locking the front door and returning to the salle. Carol had been putting the various pieces of equipment and weapons back in their respective places. All of the firearms were inert replicas, but they looked real, and were kept locked up in a room at the back of the salle. Slug throwers were illegal in Zootopia, but the military, and occasionally the ZPD, still made use of them, in training, and in the field.

“So you ready to go Snow White?” Carol asked, moving to the centre of the mat and taking up a loose stance.

“When am I ever ready for you?” He replied with a chuckle taking up a mirrored stance just outside of either’s effective range.

Carol smiled at the remark, “Well not today at least.” She added with a laugh of her own. She never took her eyes off of him though, and without so much as an errant twitch, she moved.

He had been waiting for it, and lashed out with a side kick, timing the strike for just when she would enter into range. Her arm snapped up and knocked his leg to the side as she spun down its length, driving her elbow into his quadriceps while at the same time, snapping her own foot out into his abdomen.

He hopped back on one leg, rolling with the impact, and smiled. The dance had begun in earnest, and his focus narrowed down to just the lithe form in front of him.

* * *

 

They traded blows back and forth continually. More correctly, Carol inflicted blows, while he made commendable efforts at landing his own. She was the master here, pushing him to his limits, and then forcing him to go past them.

After 10 minutes, he was breathing hard as his focus remained on the small form in front of him. He was half again her height, and twice her weight, but she moved inside his guard, and then outside his range in the blink of an eye. His reach was counteracted by her speed, and his strength was repeatedly used against him, as he was tossed to the mats with ease.

Frustration began to build, as his attacks were rebuffed again and again. His vision narrowed, and he felt the built up pain from the Centre bleed out into his movements. His strikes took on a more aggressive and reckless style. He focused less on defence, and more on pinning down the coyote, who again danced between his attacks. Again and again he failed in his goal.

He moved in for a quick jab combination, altering high and low punches while sweeping his left leg around, trying to upset her balance. She slapped the arms away, and simply lifted her forward leg and used it to strike just below his knee.

_“Failure.”_

She closed the distance, and made to strike at his groin with a right snap kick. He rotated his body, only for her to rotate the strike into a twist kick to the abdomen. The blow lacked strength though, so he pressed forward, only to have her duck under his arms and strike up inside his guard with her palm hitting him under the jaw. As his head snapped back from the strike, he caught a glimpse of her ducking down, before twin strikes to his knees and a shoulder to his gut toppled him over.

_“Failure.”_

He rolled with the impact of landing, and arched his back, kicking both hind paws into the air, using the momentum to spring himself back into a standing position.

_“Failure!”_

She was still in front of him, and the pattern of failures swirled in his head. His training here, his work at the Centre; it was nothing more than failure after failure after failure.

All those emotions were channeled into his next set of attacks, as he let go of his rage, his sadness, his frustration, and fell back on his instincts. His paws were little more than gnarled claws as he slashed when she once again moved in to attack his exposed trunk. Her paws snapped up, knocking his arms aside as she closed in rapidly to strike his solar plexus with both upturned palms. The air rushed out of his lungs, and it was as if a switch had been thrown, and he forgot how to breathe.

While his body fought to remember how to work his lungs, his mental focus returned…just in time for it to realize that she had already rotated to drive her hip into his side as she leveraged his outstretched arm into a shoulder throw. Rather than releasing him however, she followed him down, quickly straddling his chest. With a smirk on her muzzle her jaws lashed forward and closed around his momentarily exposed throat.

He froze and then relaxed into the moment, allowing his breathing to return to normal, and the angry haze that had filled him drifted away. Her paws were now working their way lightly up his sides, her claws teasing the sensitive flesh beneath through the fabric of his shirt. When they reached his neck, she released her jaw’s hold, and her paws wrapped around the sides of his head. She pressed her muzzle into his, and the two let themselves be lost in that instant.

The kiss only lasted a short while before she drew back and looked into his eyes. “So do I have my David back, or does Snow White need another round or two?”

Dave chuckled slightly, his own breathing recovering from the earlier exertions, but now becoming ragged for another reason responded by wrapping his paws around her, pulling her down into a deeper kiss. All the while, his paws caressed down her back to rest on her hips.

Pulling away from the kiss, Carol moved her muzzle along the sides of his, and they gently chinned each other before she paused by one of his ears and whispered; her voice quiet with promise, “Did you remember to lock the door?”

“Of course.” He replied, suddenly arching his hips, and rotating the two of them over the mat. He came to rest on top of her, his arms braced to either side. She didn’t resist the move, and once again the two kissed deeply. Feeling her paws reach for the hem of his shirt, he moved away slightly, and pulled the offending garment over his head. “Both Dave and Snow White know the rules for this particular therapy.” He said, bending back down to his mate. He smiled and once again brought his muzzle to hers.

* * *

 

They remained together on the mats for some time; holding onto each other and basking in the afterglow of their exertions. Part of Dave’s mind couldn’t help but catalogue the various twinges of pain that had cropped up during their lovemaking, but any thoughts towards the regret that he was going to feel tomorrow were utterly lost in the moment.

Now, as he lay there, basking in her scent, for a brief moment, there was nothing else in the universe that mattered. His arms curled more tightly around her slim form, and a soft murmur of approval rose from her muzzle.

“It’s good to have you back.” She said, looking up into his eyes before moving her muzzle in for another kiss. She leaned back and placed both paws on the sides of his face, and just smiled at him before slowly beginning to extract herself from their entwined embrace. She sat up and stretched her arms above her head.

“So did you want to just head home, or are you feeling up to facing the world for a bit?” She asked coyly, glancing back at him over her shoulder.

Dave rolled onto his side and looked up at her, his ears perked forward, and his head cocked slightly to the side, questioningly “What did you have in mind?” He glanced up at the clock on the wall, which now read 20:04. “We missed our reservation at Füri.”

“I was more thinking Mac’s.” She replied. “Nothing fancy, and there will probably be a few friends there as well.”

Mac’s was a local bar that also served as one of the main watering holes for the ZPD and ZAF staff in the area. Initially this had been simply because of its location, quite literally a block away from both Precinct 1 and the main ZAF admin building. Over time however, it had become the de facto spot to unwind after patrol.

It was also the place where he and Carol met, and as such, the place held a special significance for both mammals.

“Mac’s I can handle.” Dave said after thinking it over for a moment, standing up and starting to track down their various articles of clothing. After passing Carol’s clothes over to her, he made for the supply closet in the back of the salle. Another part of the rules for this kind of ‘therapy’ session was that he was responsible for _clean-up_. The floors here were very well acquainted with all the various fluids that existed on and in mammals, but there was some propriety that needed to be upheld for a teaching venue.

“Don’t worry about that this time.” Carol called out. Looking back at her he saw that she hadn’t bothered to put on any clothes yet, and was holding them under her arm. “After you called, I made an appointment with the cleaning company.” A devilish grin crossed her muzzle “The mats were due for a steam cleaning anyways.”

She picked up his own bundle of clothes, and tossed them towards him. “For now, you’re going to join me in the shower, and then we’re going to have a nice evening relaxing with friends…preferably not while reeking of sex.” She winked at him.

“Yes ma’am.” He replied, and followed her out the door.

* * *

 

The shower had been just that, albeit with some more than aggressive lathering and the not so occasional kiss. The two were headed out the door within 15 minutes.

It was a short walk to Mac’s from the salle, and within a few minutes, they both found themselves in front of the darkly stained oak doors. It was very much a standard Celtic inspired pub with all the accents made from carved wood. The light filtering in through the paned windows was warm and had welcoming familiarity. They had both been coming here for years before they met, it had just unfortunately been with different crowds.

Mac’s central location meant that it was also relatively close to Zootopia University. It wasn’t the closest bar, there were literally dozens of them within a block around the university…in any direction, but Mac’s had a reputation for being a bit calmer than many of those other locations. Dave and his classmates during med school had started coming here after classes to unwind, and at the time they hadn’t noticed the occasional look they received from the regulars, many of whom he now knew carried badges. As they hadn’t been looking to get drunk or cause trouble…well not the latter anyways, the former varied on the day, eventually they had become part of the usual crowd.

It was a tradition that they had continued into their residency, and that was when he and Carol had finally crossed paths.

As they walked through the doors, Dave subconsciously wrapped his arm around Carol’s waist. He looked to the main bar, and his eyes found the spot where he had fallen head over heels for her.

* * *

 

In reality, it hadn’t been a romantic situation at all. He and his friends had been out for drinks after finishing their shift in the surgical ward. It had been a gruelling 24 hour marathon that none of them wanted to repeat, but would probably be doing so within a couple of days. It was a trial by fire that all residents went through, but even though their bodies cried out for sleep, the familiar routine of going to Mac’s was inviolate to them.

They were all sitting quietly and nursing a round of beer and some hot sandwiches, when a commotion at the bar drew Dave’s attention. There were quite a few mammals he didn’t recognize that night, but that wasn’t all that was odd. Mac’s location did tend to attract new blood from time to time; some stayed, some left after a few trips, and others left very quickly after a word or two from a couple of the seasoned bar flies.

It looked like some ZU athletic team had decided to venture further afield than their usual haunts, and one of their members, a tiger, who Dave remembered seeing on the campus website but couldn’t place the name, was trying to keep the attention of an obviously uninterested lioness. Dave guessed that she had started by gently rebuffing his attempts, but he hadn’t seemed to have got the message. Where things now stood, he had grabbed onto her arm and was trying a bit more forcefully to get her to move over with his teammates.

Dave saw a few of the regulars looking things over, and a couple of them had started to rise. At this point, he had known that the ZPD frequented this place, and recognized a few officers who would step in if things got worse.

What he didn’t expect was a diminutive coyote in full fatigues to step between the tiger and lion, and roughly separate the two. He couldn’t hear the words, but her extended digit alternately prodding the tiger in the abdomen and pointing back to his group of friends made her message clear.

It might have actually worked to de-escalate the situation…if his teammates hadn’t starting laughing at his actions being rebuffed by a mammal less than half his size. Weather it was alcohol or machismo, what happened next remained very clear to this day.

The tiger lashed out with a paw, trying to push the coyote out of the way. In the next instant, that same tiger was flipping head over heels, landing roughly on the floor and scattering bar stools around him. The coyote had his arm extended and wrapped around her leg, when with a staccato series of snaps, Dave saw the tigers forearm suddenly gain several additional joints that it was never designed to possess.

The tiger didn’t even have a chance to react to the pain before another measured twist and push on his mangled limb caused the shards of bone that had once been his radius and ulna to punch through the skin, leaving them as jagged spurs poking through his fur. It was only then that the screams began.

Everything seemed to happen at once.

The tiger on the ground began with a high pitched squeal that transitioned into a full on scream as the pain finally filtered through to his consciousness. He reached over with his good arm, and tried to cradle the mess of his forearm, but every touch brought about more agony.

Another table of mammals in fatigues had also started to rise, and were making their way to their comrade.

The other ZU athletes rose up and began to make their way towards their own compatriot: weather they meant to give aid to their friend, or to take revenge for his humiliation, Dave would never know.

All around the room badges were produced from various pockets and bags, and the situation became much more serious.

Dave barely noticed any of it. All that he saw at that moment was the bright arterial blood spurting from one of the tiger’s wounds near the elbow. _“One of the bone shard must have nicked the radial or ulnar artery.”_ He thought, while moving quickly towards the screaming tiger.

That was how he had found himself kneeling on the floor of a bar, with his thumb pressed hard into the inside portion of the tiger’s arm between the biceps and triceps muscle. Trying to control the bleeding had been a challenge due to the compound fracture, but it was under control for now…even if he was covered with bright red spots all over his fur and clothing. All the while, he stole glances at the coyote, who had, if not instigated the chaos, had certainly been the one to ignite the gasoline that had been poured. With an amused look on her muzzle, she spoke with the ZPD who had revealed themselves when the violence had begun, but on occasion she stole glances of her own back  at him.

He had never been one to believe in love at first sight, and to this day he wasn’t sure if it was the fatigue, the alcohol, or something deeper that had caused him to speak what was quite possibly the dumbest pick up line in history given the situation. "Any chance I can get your number?” He had called out when their eyes met.

She had laughed out loud at that, and made her way back to the table with the other ZAF personnel.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Was all he had muttered to himself, as he focused on the tiger in front of him. His friends had eventually made their way over to him, and were helping to stabilize the tiger, who was showing some signs of going into shock. They kept working until the ambulance arrived, and they handed him off to the EMTs. As Dave made his way back to their table to collect his things, a tap on his arm caused him to turn around.

The coyote was standing there with a card outstretched in her paw. There was a smirk on her muzzle as she pressed the card into his paw. “Give me a call some time…Snow White.” Was all she said before give him a quick once over with her eyes and then striding confidently back to the bar to wait for the ZPD’s all clear.

He stood there dumbstruck for a moment before looking down at the card in his paw:

**Zootopian Armed Forces**

Savannah Central Command

SGT Carol Latrans

The phone number beneath had been crossed out and another number written in. He had a smile on his muzzle as he gathered his things and headed out with his friends.

Still not quite believing the events from the night before, he called her the very next day.

Dave allowed his thoughts to slowly work their way back to the present, and chuckled to himself at the final memory of the night: He had never been called in to give a statement.

The strangest thing was, everyone in the bar with the exception of the ZU students had either seen nothing, or had quite clearly seen the tiger trip and fall badly to the floor. It might have been a medical impossibility, “ _but then again no one had actually asked the doctors who were present.”_

* * *

 

He and Carol made their way to the bar. Carol noticed three of her students, Robert, Mark and Sue from earlier, sitting in booth off to the side, and waved to them. Her gesture was readily returned, along with beckoning motions for both her and Dave.

He tapped her on the shoulder and nodded towards the booth, “You head on over, I’ll grab a pitcher and meet you there.” She smiled at him and made her way over to the group, easily slipping into an empty space on the end.

He caught the eye of the bartender, and was quickly holding a pitcher in one paw, and a stack of chilled glasses in the other. Making his way over to the table, he could already hear some of the friendly jibes filtering their way through the air.

“…the Doc manage to tire you out?” he made out the latter part of the sentence as he arrived at the table, plunked down the glasses and beer, and started pouring the first round.

A round of approving cries came from the assembled mammals, as they reached over to grab a freshly poured pint…sometimes even when they were still working on the drinks in front of them.

Dave was still pouring when Carol replied to Robert’s question, “Not so much with the sparring, but the workout afterwards did the job nicely.”

He almost spilled the drink all over the table as he looked up at her. He could already feel the blood rushing to his face and ears…all the more so when the remaining mammals at the table took a hooting caterwauling of approval. More than a few paws moved to slap him jovially on the arm or shoulder. He managed to avoid spilling his own drink, and took a deep draught of it, partially to try to hide his embarrassment, mostly because he needed the alcohol right about now.

The humor of the military and the ZPD was still a mystery to him in many ways…no matter how many times he was subjected to it. He did trust Carol though, and if she had taken this tact, it was to help his entry into this particular clique of officers.

He laughed good naturedly at the remaining officers, and offered up his glass in acknowledgment of the jibe before sliding into the booth beside Carol. The ice had quite thoroughly been broken, and the questions flowed from both sides.

“So how long have you two been together?” Came from Sue, as she polished off her previous drink, and pulled the fresh beer towards her.

“Coming up on 7 years next month.” Dave replied smoothly, not allowing his nerves about the upcoming event to show through. The details were still being worked out, but he had to keep them hidden for now. “We actually met, just over there.” He pointed towards the bar.

“…and that is not a story that we’ll be going over again.” Carol interjected, jabbing him roughly in the side.

“Don’t worry Latrans, I’ll fill them in later.” Wolford offered with a knowing wink. He had been one of the officers present that night he had learned later, and had been one of the ones to have seen the tiger ‘trip’. He had been one of Carol’s first ZPD students and they had gotten to know each other quite well in the intervening years.

“What ever happened to the ‘If I told you, I’d have to kill you’ attitude?” She frowned, but the shine in her eyes betrayed that emotion as false.

“That’s just you military types. We in the ZPD aren’t that stubborn…or stupid.” Came from Mark, who very quickly regretted the seating arrangement, as a well targeted hind paw struck his shin bone painfully. Carol, who seemingly hadn’t moved smiled sweetly back at him.

“Ooooh, I think I’m really going to like this Thursday, don’t you?” The voice was heavenly sweet, but the smile showed far too many teeth to be anything more than a threat.

“Now come on hon, I’m sure Robert’s just teasing.” Dave spoke, his voice dripping with false seriousness.

“Taking their side are you?” She looked over to at him, indignation on her face.

“It’s my duty to protect life…even against itself when it’s made a terrible, terrible mistake.” He added, looking over to Wolford with an arched eyebrow.

“Uhhh, it’s a story for another time I guess.” Robert acquiesced looking with some apprehension at the still grinning coyote.

“Good to hear, I think my enthusiasm for Thursday might be dying down a smidge.” Her smile shifted to show fewer teeth, and Dave couldn’t help but laugh at the apprehension he saw in the larger mammals toward his mate.

The other mammals degenerated into laughter as well at the drama in front of them. The implied seriousness of the exchange wasn’t lost among friends. This was a type of banter that had played out with different groups, in different booths many times over the years. It was all part of the wonderful pattern that was their lives.

The banter continued for some time, only broken when the phones of all the officers vibrated at the same time. Dave looked around the bar and saw that several other mammals were reaching for their pockets. _“This is bad.”_ He thought, and prepared to gather up his things.

Wolford was the first to reach his and look at the message. His ears perked up and he slapped on the surface of the table while his muzzle reached up towards the ceiling in a reverberating howl.

Dave couldn’t help himself as he was drawn into the chorus along with a few other wolves in the bar. He was stopped by a rough elbow to his side, and a disapproving stare from Carol. “OK, what was that about?” She asked, still only looking at him though.

Dave pointed over to the other wolf at the table, “He started it.”

By this point, Sue had retrieved her phone, and was reading the message. She jumped up onto the booth’s seat and cupped her hands around her muzzle. “Hey everybody! The betting pool is now closed. They are an official item.”

Cheers erupted from around the bar, with Dave seemingly alone in not understanding what was going on. Even Carol was joining in on the festivities, so he allowed himself to get carried away with their exuberance.

It took several minutes for the bar to settle. Before Dave could even ask the obvious question, Carol was already speaking with Mark, “Tell Clawhauser that I’ll be there to pick up my winnings on Thursday.”

Dave had waited long enough. “What just happened? What winnings?” and looking over a Wolford “and seriously, starting a howl inside?” His ears were cocked forward waiting for some answers. He had expected every ZPD officer to dash out of the bar for some emergency, but instead the mood had become absolutely festive.

“That was the end of one of the longest betting pools in the history of the ZPD.” Wolford answered, “And as I just made a good chunk of change, I make no apologies for starting a howl.”

“Our very own Hopps and Wilde have made official what the smart members of the department,” Sue paused to look down a Delgato, who although obviously happy at the news, had placed his money on the wrong side.  “have known for over a year.”

“Hopps and Wilde?” He knew the names of course. There were somewhat famous in the city and both were regular ZPD students of Carol’s, although he had never met them personally. “A rabbit and a fox.” He mused openly looking thoughtful and gave a quiet laugh.

Some of the joviality at their table died down when they noticed his expression.

“That isn’t a problem with you is it Doc?” Pawmeyer asked. There was a hint of disapproval in her voice as she spoke. Wolford smiled, knowing the truth of Dave’s amusement.

Dave shook himself, “What? Oh no, nothing like that.” He looked to Sue and Mark, still seeing some confusion in their eyes. “I don’t know how much of what Carol’s told you, but I actually work over at the Honeywell Centre.”

Delgato looked over at him suddenly, “You work _there_?” His voice was strangely quiet.

“I’ve never even heard of the place.” Sue mentioned casually.

“There’s no reason you would have.” Mark continued. He had picked up his phone and was searching through it for something. “They only deal with inter-couples who are having serious issues during pregnancy.” He found what he was looking for and passed the phone to Dave.  

Dave took the phone and looked at the picture. He saw a male tiger and female lion couple out in one of the parks in the Rainforest District. In front of them was a young hybrid cub, probably about 4 or 5 years old from the picture.

“That’s my nephew, and you guys saved his life.” Delgato said, pointing to the cub. He left Dave to look at the phone and called out for the bartender to bring over another round of drinks.

Dave thought back through the years, and only then recognized the couple. “The Fangwells wasn’t it?” He asked unsure if he had all the details right after all this time.

Delgato sat back down. “Yep that’s them. My sister Molly, her husband Tom, and their son Lucas.” The lion, reached over and flicked through other images. Birthday parties, parades, vacations; the simple parts of a normal life scrolled across the screen. In each of them, Lucas was prominently featured.

“I remember them now.” Dave’s voice was quiet. His attention locked onto the picture before him. “They were one of the first cases where we were able to use genome editing to repair the dystrophin gene. All we knew was that the treatment was successful. We never found out what happened after he was born and left the Centre. He never needed any follow up work, so we just didn’t hear anything.”

His voice took on a slightly husky tone towards the end, and he passed the phone back to Mark, blinking repeatedly to try and push back the tears that were threatening to flow. “Would you mind asking your sister if she’d forward some of those pictures to me?” He reached into his pocket and retrieved a business card, passing it over. He smiled somewhat sadly at the Centre once again played forefront in his mind. “We don’t get to hear about our successes too often. It would mean a lot to the rest of the staff to see him doing so well.”

“I don’t think I even need to ask her, but I’ll check.” Delgato looked thoughtful for a moment. “Is stuff like this really that rare for you guys?”

“Yeah... It really is.” Dave’s face said far more, and the officers recognized the wounds for what they were.

Wolford was the first to speak up to change the topic. “So Dave, you specialize in interspecies couples, right?” He didn’t wait to continue, “Now that the primary betting pool is out of the way, how about some inside information on one of the secondary ones?”

Dave cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side, acting as though he didn’t know where this was going.

“What are the chances that a bunny and a fox could…you know?” He asked, moving his hands together and apart in a pantomime that Dave had seen hundreds of times in his career.

He smiled and decided to have some fun. Carol had just gotten the attention of a waiter and was ordering some food for the table. _“Oh, this is going to be good.”_

“What do you mean exactly? Have sex? I don’t see why not.” He kept on going, not giving them a chance to interrupt. “Now there would be some obvious size issues in this case, however the genitalia of most female rabbits is more than capable of handling something the size of a fox.”

He took up his phone while speaking, and opened up several bookmarked pages from PubMed all dealing with case studies of various injuries mismatched partners had caused. “There have been several cases reported among female Leporidae and male Canidae relationships relating to the bulbus glandis tie associated with canine and vulpine mating.”

He held up his phone, which displayed a very graphic image of a female rabbit’s external genitalia. The outer portions of the vagina and inner labia were extensively torn and in the midst of repair. “Now in this instance, the female became panicked during the tie, and tried to forcibly separate herself from her mate. You can see here and here where the stress caused tearing along the soft tissue.”

He swiped and switched the image, now showing what appeared to be a male dingo whose penis hung limply outside of its sheath, showing signs of trauma to the delicate bone that ran down the shaft as well as several tears at the base. “Now here we see the effect on her mate. The baculum itself was broken during the extraction, but the real damage occurred at the base here where you can see significant tearing around…”

He continued on for almost 10 minutes, bringing forth an almost endless series of visual horrors to go along with his clinical narration. He only stopped when the food arrived, and both he and Carol began eating with gusto while the remaining 3 mammals looked at their food with more than a little nausea.

Pausing between bites, he finally let them off the hook. “But to answer your real question, the odds of them being able to have children is so close to zero, it’s not even calculable. There’s just too much evolutionary distance between the two.”

Wolford blinked and looked up at Dave. “Waitaminute! You knew the question but spent the last who knows how long going over all the horrible shit that could happen to those two?”

“Yes, yes he did, and I’m proud of him for giving in to the dark side of humor for once.” Carol added, raising her paw for him to meet with his own in an energetic high four.

“Wow, fuck you both.” Sue said, shaking her head, and obviously trying to rid her mind of the images and lecture she had been subjected to. “Any thoughts I entertained about having cubs died right here and now.”

She shuddered slightly, but then smirked a bit, “Well played Doc. I guess we’ve all have our war stories.”

“I don’t know Pawmeyer. I’ve seen street pizza that looked better than some of those pictures.” Delgato added. He also shook himself, but managed to pick up his sandwich and begin eating.

“Never underestimate the shit that an OBGYN sees. There’s a reason why the stereotype of fainting husbands exists...and it’s because it’s _real._ ” Dave added and he had to laugh at the number of times during a _normal_ birth when that was the case. At a the maternity ward at Zootopia General, the frequency of the words ‘Nurse, would you help Mr. ??? to the waiting room.’ being uttered was comically high. At the Centre it was much rarer, but still happened enough to lend statistical credence to the stereotype.

Wolford still looked aghast at Dave and Carol for a few more seconds. Then barked and slapped the table ending with a loud laugh. “All right, you got us good.” He stopped and looked serious for a second, “But were you serious about Hopps and Wilde?”

Dave looked seriously at the other mammals at the table, and nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m sorry but right now it’s not going to happen. Even if an absolute miracle were to happen and the two gametes were able to fuse, their genomes are so far apart, it wouldn’t even make it through one cell division. The rest of it though, that only happens with larger canids. They should be fine.”

He looked down at his drink, and took a long swallow from it. _“At least they’d never even make it to the Centre”_ He thought and paused. Only in his line of work would the biological impossibility of their union be considered a good thing. _“Then again, that’s what we’re all trying to do. Make it a possibility!”_

He looked back at Wolford before continuing “For now, I’d stay away from that particular pool. We can’t do anything about it now, and probably not for quite a while, but we’ll keep trying.” He polished off his beer and then added with a laugh “You won’t mind if we set our sights a little lower for our first real success, do you?”

* * *

 

The conversation drifted away from the biology of the pair and instead focused on their hijinks. Dave listened to the anecdotes with interest, only having heard the reports from the news, or the occasional tale from Carol. The two seemed to have an equal knack for getting themselves thrown into the thick of it, but thankfully surviving to tell the tale.

They parted ways a short while later, with Carol and him heading back towards the salle and their car. He had stopped drinking a while back, but Carol had seemingly wanted to match at least Sue, pint for pint, even though she was out-massed by a considerable margin. She hadn’t quite hit falling down drunk, but it was a close call.

After managing to get her bundled into the passenger seat, he was thankful for the short drive back to their home. _“If there’s one advantage at being at the Centre,”_ he thought _“not having to be being overly concerned about the crazy real estate prices in Savannah Central is definitely it.”_

It wasn’t a large house, but by the standards of the area it was downright palatial. A two story front split design made the portion of the house facing the street large, but the majority of the home was a single story, with only the bedrooms occupying the upper floor. It was plenty of room for them though.

He saw that Carol was having trouble with the stairs, and scooped her up into his arms. She giggled at the motion, and he smiled to hear the sound from her. He carefully balanced the delicate package in his arms, and managed to unlock and open the door without making too much of a fool of himself. Now faced with the decision of taking her upstairs, or back into the living room, he paused.

“Are you ready to call it a night yet, or did you want to stay up for a while?” He asked, looking down at her in his arms.

She actually seemed to think about it for a while before answering, “I bee-ter stay up a while longer. If I don’t drin-kth some water, I’ll be in for it tomorrow.” The hiccup and second giggle that followed the somewhat mangled sentence gave some credence to her request.  He walked back into the rear of the house, and carefully deposited her on the couch.

He made his way into the kitchen and filled a large glass with water and headed back to Carol, taking a bottle of acetaminophen and placing it on the counter for what he anticipated would be the consequences for Carol tomorrow. It was almost a surprise that Carol had not simply passed out already, but was instead flicking through the channels, trying to find something to hold her interest for the time being.

“Here you go hon.” He said, handing her the glass. She took a long sip and murmured appreciatively.  

He was making to join her on the couch when his phone began to ring. Retrieving it from his pocket he was greeted with the pleasant call display image of female white wolf with her arms wrapped around white, grey and brown fox.

Hi hit the accept icon on screen, and made his way back to their shared office, just off the living room. “Hey string bean, how are you doing?”

“Damn it Dave, I’m 30 years old. How long can you keep up with that stupid nickname?” The female voice on the end of the line held some exasperation, but there was also an underlying warmth.

“Well have you caught up to me in years yet?” He paused for a moment, “No? Well in that case you’re still my little sister, and I have a solemn duty to continue to get under your fur whenever possible.”

“Ugh, you are such a pain in the ass…but that’s never changed.” Rebecca laughed slightly at their now decades old banter. It hadn’t really changed much since they were kids, and they were both fine with that. “Allan wanted to know if you were done with the designs yet? He’s got the rough mold worked up, but he won’t be able to finish things until you send us the pictures.”

Dave walked over to the desk and retrieved a series of drawings from the drawer. They were little more than spirals and whorls on the page, but they represented something very special to Carol, and he had worked for hours to work them together into a final pattern.

“Just give me a second.” He said, and moved the phone away from his ear to activate the camera and take a picture of the final design. He quickly forwarded it to his sister as an attachment, and then returned the phone to his ear. “OK, it’s sent, let me know if it’s good enough for him to work with.”

“Checking!” Becca’s voice was full of excitement. She and her husband designed custom jewellery, and both had been looking forward to this particular commission for quite a while. “Yes! I have it and it looks amazing…are you ever going to tell us what these design’s mean?”

“Only once Carol figures it out herself. I’m not going to let you ruin the surprise for her.” He chided gently. “Can you still get it done in time?” The question was important to him, as he badly wanted this to coincide with the anniversary of their 7 years together already.

“We still have almost 3 weeks, so there shouldn’t be a problem.” Becca sounded confident, and Dave breathed a sigh of relief.

“Can the two of you make it down that night?” He asked, once again working over the logistics in his head.

“That’s still in the air, but I’ll let you know once I can.” There was a muffled sound at the other end of the line, and Becca’s voice sounded like it was away from the phone, “Got it! I’m on my way.” Her voice returned to its normal volume. “I’ve got to run Dave. Give Carol my best.”

“Goodnight string bean!” He called out before the line went dead.

Smiling, he tucked the drawings back into the desk and made his way back into the living room. Carol had finished the water, but was fast asleep on the couch. He turned off the TV and crouched down beside her. He spent a few moments just looking at her sleeping form before gently running a paw over her cheek, then he stood up and carefully gathered her into his arms.

He took care to disturb her as little as possible as he made his way upstairs, and made it to their bedroom with only a single muttered complaint. Getting her out of her clothes and into her oversized nightshirt however elicited several more complaints before he got her settled, and starting getting himself ready for bed. By the time he returned from the bathroom, she was snoring quietly.

He turned out the lights, and climbed in beside her, pulling her close to his chest. Her snores were interrupted by the movement, but her quiet voice came through to him, “Love you.”

He kissed the top of her head, and closed his eyes. He held onto her until sleep claimed him, and even beyond then, his mate was always held close.

* * *

 

**Notes:**

Well this chapter was of a much different tone, and yes, I finally broke down and added “them” into the story. Not a direct showing, but their existence (and their SHIP!...blame /u/NickWilde for this edit, but I’m keeping it) in this universe is now cannon.

Writing this was a much needed change of pace for me. Although I love writing about the Centre, and the underlying science that ground it and the rest of this AU, I was an emotionally draining activity. Although it might have felt ham-handed, it was the most realistic outcome that I could see for a world like Zootopia, and it was not pretty. The sense of loss and failure felt by the staff would be never ending, but they keep trying because giving up just means allowing the loss to continue.

However, all the staff are mortal, and as with us, the mammals of Zootopia cannot thrive in an environment like the Centre without some kind of outlet, anchor or escape. For Dave this is Carol, and I had fun introducing her in this chapter. She’s flawed, she’s prone to violence, but she also serves to ground Dave and bring him back from the abyss.

Anyways, it’s science time again!

There isn’t nearly as much stuff to go through, but I did gloss over several things in this chapter, so some additional explanations are included below.  

 **Cervical Dislocation:** The separation of the spinal column from the brain. In combat, this is most frequently caused by either a very strong blow to the base of the skull, or through inflicting a cervical fracture (breaking the neck) of a target. Contrary to the portrayals in media, this isn’t as easy as just twisting someone’s head. That will break the vertebrae if done forcefully enough, but it might not actually sever the spinal column.

 **Compound Fracture:** Any injury where a broken bone pierces through the skin. This complicates treatment, as the open wound increases the chance of infection, but also the normal methods to control bleeding might be difficult, as direct pressure may not be possible without making the situation worse, such as causing additional damage to surrounding tissues with the (probably) jagged bone fragments.

 **Radial, Ulnar and Brachial Arteries:** These represent the major arteries in the arm. The radial and ulnar arteries branch off of the brachial artery  just below the elbow, and travel down the opposite sides of the forearm. The brachial artery continues up through the upper arm. There are actually several collateral arteries involved as well, but for the purpose of this story, Dave controlled the bleeding partially by applying direct pressure to the brachial artery, thus limiting blood flow to the forearm.

It’s important to note that this is not how treating a forearm wound should be handled! As it cuts off the circulation to much of the lower arm, it should only be used when direct pressure does not work to stem the bleeding, and the victim is in danger of bleeding out. It’s basically a manual tourniquet, and should be treated as such.

 **Dystrophin:** A protein that is located in the outer layer of the myofilaments of muscle fibers. It is needed to help anchor the actin filaments to other support proteins. Mutations in this gene can cause muscular dystrophy, a degenerative condition that results in the weakening of muscles over time. It can range from completely manageable, to debilitating, to fatal. We currently have no cure for the disease, but several gene therapies are undergoing clinical trials.  

 **Canidae...uh Reproductive Differences:** When a mommy dog and a daddy dog love each other very much…

Seriously though, there are significant anatomical differences between the male genitalia in Canidae family (which includes wolves, dogs and foxes) and humans. The first is one that’s actually quite common among mammals, which is the baculum, a bone which is inside the shaft of the penis. Functionally, this allows the penis to enter into the female prior to it becoming erect. Fractures of this bone do happen, both during mating and outside of it due a range of causes.

The second one that I will touch on here is the source of the innumerable knot jokes that permeate the fandom. At the base of the Canidae penis is the bulbus glandis, a region of erectile tissue that swells during mating (to a considerable size), with the end result of it tying the male and female together for the duration of the erection. In some species this can last for up to a half hour. Forcing the removal of the glandis during this time can cause severe injury to both the male and female.

In the words of Eric Schwartz, it’s “Mandatory Cuddle Time”. Basically, if you come home to find your dog “tied” to another, do not attempt to separate them. It’s already too late, and you might hurt one or both dogs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that’s it for now. With this the first arc of the story has wrapped up, and things will be returning to the Centre for the next chapter. Once again, I’ll try to push it out for next week, but I’ll only promise something for the week of Oct. 3rd.  
> My thanks to all the readers who have stuck with this, up until now exceedingly dark tale. I hope that this chapter has shown that my vision for Zootopia isn’t a perpetual Hell, and that life outside the Centre is filled with the same range of emotions as the setting is due.  
> Finally, a big thanks to WildeNick for helping to edit this beast. The tale grew in the writing, and I thank him for his efforts.  
> Please remember to comment, or post any questions you might have, either as a comment, or a PM.  
> Eng050599


	5. Chapter 5: Consults and Consoling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, my apologies to everyone for being both a bit late, and a little shorter with this chapter. Real life came at me with a vengeance. Everything from a very important job interview (over several days), never ending research stuff, an IT nightmare with a newish bioinformatics server, and some family stuff kept me from getting this out earlier.
> 
> Thanks to everyone for sticking to this, and as always, a special thanks to those who commented on the story since the last chapter was released:
> 
> From FanFiction:
> 
> Stevegallacci: Thanks for your comments, and I’m glad you enjoyed the change of pace that Chapter 4 provided. It was fun to write, and I hope to get quite a bit more use out of the characters that it introduced.
> 
> jamdea: I can’t promise that things will be that light again for a little while. This chapter represent a transition back to the Centre, so there is a gradual change in the tone for Dave as it progresses. We’ll be back to some fun times in a bit, but for now reality has to reassert itself.
> 
> WildeHopps: As always I thank you for your kind words, and your willingness to help me toss ideas against a wall to see what sticks. I’m looking forward to your upcoming stories…and I might need some fluff in a short while.
> 
> tomcatace99: As I wrote to you in the PM, I’m both saddened and somewhat relieved that Chapter 3 had such a strong effect on you. Writing that one nearly broke me, and I really needed to write Chapter 4 afterwards. I hope that it also helped you. When I started planning this story and setting, I knew that there were very uncomfortable things that NEEDED to be written about. The society presented in Zootopia is a marvel to consider, but there are grave consequences that would exist for them, and the work of the Centre represents one unfortunate aspect of this. The Honeywell’s foundlings represent the best of an awful situation, and it hurts to consider the other aspects of theirs and the Centre’s work, but that society needs it. 
> 
> This chapter isn’t a rough as Chapter 3, so I hope you’ll enjoy it.
> 
> phantomreader42: I hope my reply gave you fair warning about Chapter 3. The second chapter was rough, but I wasn’t in tears when I finished that one…chapter 3 I was an absolute mess. I hope you keep enjoying it.
> 
> From AO3:
> 
> WolfGuardMiestwin: As I wrote, I would never have Dave drive drunk, and I thank you for your comments on species size. There is alcohol mentioned in this chapter…and the consequences of it. 
> 
> AHenhouseFox: I’ve enjoyed our discussions over on Reddit as well as in the story. I actually missed the details about Nick’s height and weight, and I might need to alter some aspects of the future plot to address the huge increase in size over the wild red fox. I had only accounted for a 20-30% increase in size across the board, but the info about nick is 200-300% increase. Some small mammals might need to be several times their normal size as a result. 
> 
> And with that, we are now getting in to the second arc of the story, and this is very much some setup for what’s to come. As always, the chapter notes are at the end, but this time, they’re nowhere near as long.

**Chapter 5: Consults and Consoling**

The sensation came without warning.  It roused her from slumber as she clutched her paws to her abdomen and whimpered. The rolling, stabbing pain was intense, bringing with it an overwhelming sense of nausea. She tried to stand, but her legs betrayed her, and she fell to the floor, still partially wrapped in blankets. She managed to rise to her paws and knees, but her stomach clenched and she convulsed as its contents emptied out onto the floor.

The sound of her hard landing roused the mammal that had been sleeping beside her. He sat up confused as she continued to heave. “Janet! Are you OK?” he asked, his paw fumbling for the bedside lamp. He managed to turn on the light, and the interior of their small bedroom was revealed.

Looking over the edge of the bed, he could see her shaking and struggling to rise.

The smell of vomit was now heavy in the air, but the fox barely noticed as he pounced to her side. He first tried to help her to stand, but she yipped in pain as her torso straightened.  At a complete loss of what to do, he rubbed her back with his small paw in hopes of bringing her comfort. His face was awash with worry as he tried to think of a way to help. As a wolf, she was almost twice his size, and fear gripped him at the realization that there was no way he could move her on his own.

Reaching to the nightstand, he grabbed his phone and unlocked it with muscle memory. “I’m calling 911! Just hang on.” He tried to hide the worry from his voice, but knew that he wasn’t fooling anyone.

Before he could finish dialing, he saw her shake her head. “No, it’s OK. It’s going away.”

She visibly relaxed and he did too.  Slowly, she managed to work her way to a kneeling position. Her arms still moved to wrap themselves around her midsection, but the pain was lessening by the second. She drew in a shaking breath, and began extricating herself from the tangle of soiled blankets she was trapped in.

She looked up to her mate. The asymmetrical patterns in is facial fur often made reading his expressions difficult, but his eyes always told her everything. Behind the multi-hued irises, fear and worry were etched into his gaze, and she tried to smile at his concern.

“Really Tommy, I’m OK.” She paused to raise a paw to his cheek as she spoke. “Could you do me a favor and get some spare sheets from the linen closet while I get cleaned up?”

The fox nodded, and made his way out of the bedroom. Janet used the bed to rise to her full height, and tentatively tested her range of motion. There was still some residual pain, but it was nowhere near the blinding agony that had awoken her. She gathered up the dirty sheets, and deposited them in the laundry hamper on her way to the bathroom. _“I’ll take care of those in the morning.”_ She thought as she turned on the lights and looked at herself in the mirror.

The silver-grey fur surrounding her muzzle was dotted with specks of vomit, but overall the damage seemed minimal. She filled the sink, and scrubbed her face clean. Afterward, she eagerly grabbed for the mouthwash to try and rid herself of the residual taste.

 _"This is the second night in a row I’ve puked, but what the hell was that pain about?”_ She mused, while looking at her freshly cleaned visage. Green eyes stared back at her from a black mask, lightning to silver-grey along her muzzle and throat. She was glad to notice that her sleepwear appeared to have avoided the mess, and she gave herself a brief shake before heading back into the bedroom. _“Don’t let him see you’re scared of this.”_

Tommy was dutifully replacing the sheets when she walked in, and she took hold of the top layer from the other side, as they worked together to get things back into place. He was clad in nothing but his boxers, and she allowed herself to marvel at the color patternings of his coat. His was a collage of rich reds and deep browns, with black, white and grey patches scattered about randomly.  The chaos was mesmerizing, and she often found herself lost in it while they groomed each other.

He paused in his work, and looked up at her. “Are you sure you’re OK?” He asked, his gaze fully locked on her.

She nodded tiredly, but tried to make the smile on her muzzle seem genuine.

Tommy didn’t seem convinced, and his arms crossed protectively in front of his chest, as he rubbed his arms worry. “I’m scared Janet. You were sick last night, but now you’re hurting too? I don’t know what to do.” His last words were choked off and she noticed that his eyes were brimming with tears.

She quickly moved to his side, and wrapped her arms around him in a loving embrace. Change easily flustered Tommy, and this...whatever it was, struck out at the one thing he cared for most, _her_.

They had been friends since childhood, and she’d always been his rock to cling to for stability. When he had been teased for his looks or his intelligence, she had been there to drive away the bullies. When their relationship had grown into something more, she had learned to lean on him for support just as much. While she was his foundation to deal with the wilds of life, she could draw from him the pure love that he felt.

…but now that foundation was shaking, and she held onto her fox to carry him through. She didn’t know what was wrong with her, and the uncertainty was terrifying, but she would never let Tommy feel adrift while she could help it.

They stood there in silence for a good long while. Tommy shaking slightly, as he cried tears of fear and frustration. Janet held him close and ran her clawtips through the soft fur around his head and neck.

Eventually, Tommy released his hold on her, and she looked down into his eyes. “I’ll make an appointment to see Dr. Walfin tomorrow, OK? We’ll find out what’s wrong and get it fixed. I promise.”

“OK…I’m still scared though.” Tommy added, showing a bit of embarrassment at the admission.

She placed her paws on either side of his face, and bent down to kiss him gently. “Alright, let’s head back to bed for now. We both have to work tomorrow, and I’m still exhausted.”

She took his paw in her own, and guided him back onto the bed. Tommy turned off the light, and relaxed back into her grip. Finally letting the tension leach out of him.

“I love you.” He said quietly into the darkness.  She knew it to be true and gripped him all the tighter for it until sleep claimed them both again.

* * *

 

The sun was just creeping through the windows when Dave opened his eyes. A glance at the bedside clock showed that it was just past 6, and the alarm would be going off in a few minutes. Carefully removing his arm from Carol’s midsection, he reached over to turn off the alarm, and hopefully provide her with a few extra minutes of sleep.

A quiet murmur from her small form told him that his actions had been for naught.

“Uhhg, when I left the military, the early mornings were something that I did not regret leaving behind.” She grumbled, reaching down to grasp the blankets and wrapping them around her more tightly.

“Sorry hon, but I’ve got to get moving.” He replied apologetically, but moved to sit at the edge of the bed. Looking back over his shoulder, he rested his paw on her gently. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I tangled with a rhino, and got the worse end of the deal.” Her tone was one of utter dejection. Turning slightly to face him, wincing at the sunlight reaching towards her, and added “Don’t lock the bathroom door when you shower. Right now it’s even odds I’ll need to make an offering to the porcelain goddess.”

Groaning, she pulled the blankets over her head, and he knew that that would be the last out of her for a while. Giving her one final pat on the shoulder, he made his way to the ensuite and went about his morning ablutions. There were several twinges of pain as he moved, but overall it appeared that he had got off easy yesterday. He hoped that Carol would be as lucky.

He was just rinsing the lather from his fur when he heard the door to the bathroom slam open, followed by a flurry of footsteps heading towards the toilet. He had broken a cardinal rule of the house by leaving the seat up, but for once it had been intentional.  From the awful retching sound that echoed through the room, he knew his forethought had helped, at least a little.

He reached for a towel and stepped out of the shower without turning it off. He knelt beside her and rubbed her back as the consequences from the previous evening were put on display. Fortunately, it didn’t last long. Carol turned to sit on the floor, one arm resting on the rim of the toilet, and she covered her eyes with her other paw.

“Don’t even say it!” Was all she said, her ears turning in his direction, but otherwise she did not move.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He couldn’t hide some of the amusement from his voice, and he did manage to spot a slim smile cresting on her face. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” He added, reaching down to help her to her up.

Once on a stable footing, he helped her remove her nightshirt, and stepped back into the shower with her in tow. The two once again, went about grooming each other, although he performed most of the ministrations, while she stood quietly under the cascading water; her eyes closed, and ears pulled back, giving form to the headache that she was probably suffering from.

Over time, the ears slowly moved forward, as he worked his paws over her. He worked various muscle groups and pressure points, and did his best to help her relax. Eventually the water became tepid, and they both reluctantly turned off the water. Finding towels once more, they went about drying and fluffing each other to prepare for the day at large.

Realizing that he had left the painkillers down in the kitchen, he opened up the medicine cabinet, and unwrapped a new bottle. Taking a single pill in his paw, he broke it in half with his claw tips, and offered it to Carol.

She took the pill, and looked at him with a cocked head. “Oh so generous Doctor.” She said, tossing back the painkiller and turning back to the mirror to continue her grooming.

“The dose makes the poison hon.” He replied “That should work…provided you get some more water into you.” He paused for a moment before continuing “Will today be another busy one for you?”

“No, fortunately not. I wouldn’t have been quite so… _freewheeling_ last night otherwise.” She brushed out the last bit of her fur and turned to face him. “The morning meeting with ZAF brass is going to suck, but I’m not presenting and just need to stay awake for it. This afternoon is just private training with the ZIA and those pantywaists are never an issue.”

“I see your love for our famed intelligence agency has remained unchanged.” He said, moving in to give her a quick hug and a kiss on the top of her head, before gathering up their clothing and heading back to the bedroom.

A short bark of laughter escaped from her muzzle as she followed him out. “Out of the whole lot, there’s only one who takes it seriously, and he has all the grace of the rhino that he is.” She made her way to the wardrobe, and pulled out a clean pressed pantsuit, as well as another set of training clothes. “I really shouldn’t be the one training him.” She added, shaking her head slightly “He needs someone who can focus on his size and strength, but all those mammals are on active deployment. I’ll do what I can, and depending on how things go, I might see about bringing in a few of the larger ZPD officers who have been through the program. The reality is that if I have to go paw to paw with a rhino, it’s all going to be E&E…unless I have a very big gun or get lucky with a knife.”

Both she and Dave dressed quickly and made their way downstairs, her giving him a gentle nudge in his side as they entered into the kitchen. “Someone like you or Delgato, I can deal with, but I am just a wittle coyote.” She added putting a childlike emphasis on the last two words.

Dave laughed and gathered up the ingredients for breakfast “So you admit to having limits? I’m shocked.”

Carol fixed him with a gaze, but they quickly fell back into their morning routine, and were soon polishing off the remains of some omelets and the always required morning coffee. After dealing with the dishes, they were both heading out the door; Carol grabbed for her car keys, as well as the bottle of acetaminophen, before Dave was able to snag them first.

“Can I take the car today? I’m pretty sure that I’ll have everything wrapped up before 5, and want to run some errands before you finish up.” She asked, as they reached the door.

“Sure, as long as you promise me that you won’t take another of those for 4 hours at a minimum, and only another half pill!” He replied turning around to lock the front door and make his way down to the passenger side of their car.

“I promise to be good.” She said, and Dave looked at her with an expression of mock disbelief. “Fine, I promise to follow your sagely advice…I am capable of being good too you know.”

“Oh, I know, but your mercurial nature means that the beating of a butterfly’s wings in central park could change that in an instant.” He added good naturedly, closing the door while she slipped into the driver’s seat and adjusted it to account for her shorter stature.

“Well one of us needs to bring some chaos into the mix, and for you, that source is me.” She winked at him and then dropped the car into reverse as she slammed on the accelerator. Dave eyes went wide and his claws gripped the upholstery for his life as the car rocketed out onto the street. A quick twist of the wheel brought them in line with painted lane markings before the car launched forward. His terror abated when acceleration stopped at only 5 mph over the speed limit.

The ZAF had also taught Carol to drive, and for her, that meant being aggressive, but not reckless…unless she wanted to.

* * *

After being dropped off at the Honeywell Centre, Dave paused before heading in to meet Jim at the smoker’s corner. He hadn’t gone in to get changed into scrubs yet, but the remaining parts of their morning ritual went about as usual.

Jim actually didn’t look exhausted as Dave had expected and offered a wave in greeting. Reaching into his front pocket, Dave withdrew a cigarette, while Jim offered him the use of his lighter.

 _“Only two left.”_ He thought to himself. It hadn’t been easy to give up, but he was almost there. For now however, he took a deep draw on the cigarette and held it for a moment before releasing the cloud into the air.

Jim gave a slight chuckle at his expression. “You’re going to miss it. Admit it.” He said, flicking the ash from the end of his own cigarette.

“Yeah, but we both know it’s for the best…and I’m not talking about the health risks of this.” He added waving the cigarette in his paw for emphasis.

Jim gave a real laugh at that. “This is true, Carol would have your pelt if you reneged on a birthday promise…and might come after mine for being a corrupting influence.”

“Look at the bright side Jim, she’d probably let off with just a severe beating; me, I’d long for the sweet embrace of death before she let me go.” He paused to smile at the absurdity of it, but then took another pull from his smoke and became more serious. “So anything I should know about before I head in?” He asked, starting off the final phase of their morning ritual.

“For once, not really.” Jim replied with a smile. “Ms. Robin miscarried last night, but we didn’t have any additional patients admitted or seen.”

Ms. Robins had been one of the mammals admitted near the end of yesterday’s shift. The rat couple had come to the center after Ms. Robins after she had experienced abdominal pain and their physician had ordered a pregnancy test, which came back positive. She was _Rattus norvegicus,_ while her mate was _Rattus rattus_. The pairing was almost never successful, and that had been the case here. He had delivered the bad news to them and admitted Ms. Robins overnight for observation. The miscarriages were never a surprise, but it always hurt to hear the confirmation.

“So it’s just monitoring and discharge today, unless something else come in.” Jim continued. “Ms. Woodman and Ms. Lightfoot should be safe to leave this morning. I made follow up recommendations in their charts, if you, Laura or Doug could go over them with the patients, I’d appreciate it.”

“A quiet day? How will we manage?” Dave replied with a real smile. “I might even be able to start tackling the lab data that’s been building up for weeks.” He looked thoughtful for a moment before wincing slightly, “It’s open consult day isn’t it?”

“You remembered for once, and yes it is!” Jim replied his muzzle forming a smirk around his cigarette. “There aren’t that many appointments, only 7 or so...just for you.”

The open consultation day was another tradition at the Honeywell Centre. It was held every other month, and provided genetic counseling for mammals without any underlying medical conditions. The service was mainly used by couples who wanted to know if they were capable of having children together. Unfortunately, in the overwhelming majority of cases, they were not, and Dave along with the other physicians had to crush their dreams for starting a family with their own biological children.

Compared to the usual tragedy they dealt with, it should have been an easy thing to do, but the damage came from the repetition. Two months ago, he and the other physicians had seen over 40 couples. Out of all of them, they had only been able to assist a single couple in forming a compatible pairing, and even then, it was discovered that they still needed selective IVF to help avoid a severe recessive genetic condition.

Interspecies couples were rare, but in a city the size of Zootopia, even 1% meant thousands upon thousands of them. In all but the closest of pairings, there was little good news that they could provide. For the rest, they could provide information, suggest alternatives, and offer to work up a genetic profile for each would be parent, so that they could use that information to potentially make those pairings possible in the future.

Dave gave a sigh and looked back to Jim, “Poor Abby’s going to be stuck analyzing ALL my samples at this rate. Fortunately, Donny’s a firm believer in keeping his grad students busy. How does he put it, _‘It keeps them out of the absolute alcohol!’_ ”

“Do we dare tell him the truth?” Jim asked with a laugh.

“Eh, considering we’ve all shared drinks down there**, I think he already knows. Mixed drinks and the midnight shift are a tradition in many a lab.” Dave flicked away the remains of his cigarette as he spoke an almost universal rule in research.

No food or drink was allowed in most labs...but the components for the latter were easily obtained. The safety rules were such that one could never drink to excess, but after a particularly promising result, an impromptu celebration that involved some combination of anhydrous ethyl alcohol, molecular biology grade water, sucrose and smuggled in drink crystals could be expected. The taste was somewhere between battery acid and a rancid wine cooler, but beggars and grad student’s can’t be choosers, although even the staff scientists would take part...or at least pretend not to see.

“Well I better get started at least.” Dave said, waving farewell to Jim, and making his way to the front doors. Looking back over his shoulder, he added “Oh, Carol was wondering if you and Diana were free next weekend for dinner?”

“I’ll have to check, but I think we should be good. We’ll just need to find a sitter for the kids.” Jim pulled out his phone and made a notation in his calendar. “I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

Dave nodded and headed into the Centre. A light rain began to fall as he reached the doors, and he paused for a moment to consider the portents of that. Then chuckling at himself, he opened the doors and made his way to the locker room to get changed.

* * *

Morning rounds were the first thing to tackle before the consults started filtering in in a couple of hours. As Jim has indicated, there had been no new admissions overnight, and no patients were in the waiting or exam rooms. He made his way to the second floor, and went to the nurse’s station to check the room assignments, and see if any been any updates.

Doug mills was manning the desk when he arrived, and the leopard looked up as he approached. His ears pulled back and he lowered his gaze upon recognizing him, and he spoke before Dave could fend off what he knew was coming.

“Dr. Hawthorne, I’m sorry about what happened to Ms. Woodman yesterday. When Dr. Kent went in, we were sure that it was something you two had consulted on. Sara and I didn’t question when he asked us to...well you know.” There was real remorse in his voice as he spoke.

“Doug, it wasn’t yours or Sara’s fault. That shitshow is all Jason’s doing.” He didn’t even try to hide the contempt from his voice when he mentioned Dr. Kent’s name. “Drs. Wilson, Pawson and I took care of things yesterday, and there will not be a repeat of his actions.”

He paused briefly as Doug looked up to meet his gaze. “You and Sara did nothing wrong, and that’s the end of it.”

“We still feel awful that we didn’t question it.” Doug gave his head a slight shake as his ears drooped further “Sara was in bad shape last night, but she was comforted by a certain rumor going around the Centre.” There was a small smile on his muzzle, and he moved his head to indicate a direction further down the main hallway “Something about the wall in the conference room needing some touchup work.”

Dave had to give a laugh at that, _“Laura just couldn’t resist telling that little tale could she?”_ he thought to himself. “No comment on that particular rumor Doug, and Dr. Wilson will have a formal statement regarding Dr. Kent soon. Suffice to say, second guessing him will become standard practice for a good while at least.”

“So the rumor mill was accurate on that as well.” He nodded to himself. “Anyways, there hasn’t been much happening since early last night. When I took over from Catherine, the only thing of note was Ms. Robins’ miscarriage. Dr. Pawson is due to meet with the Pandels again today, but then they’re due to be discharged. Ms. Woodman and Ms. Lightfoot just need your OK to be released, and Dr. Cerval wanted Ms. Robins to stay for another day.” He shrugged looking up at the duty board “After that it’s consultations for all you bigwigs for most of the afternoon.”

“Then I best get moving.” He turned and started down the hall before a thought came to him. “Oh, Doug,” he asked turning back to face the leopard “did Dr. Wilson book the usual noon meeting before the consults?”

“Let me check.” Doug replied, and looked over to the monitor at his station. “Yes, but it’s booked from 11:45-12:30 instead.”

“Good to know, thanks!” Dave turned back towards the ward rooms. Stopping off at a wash station to scrub his paws. Ms. Woodman was the first room he came upon, and he took a deep breath before retrieving her chart from the holder affixed to the wall and stepping inside.

* * *

Ms. Woodman was not alone in the room when he entered. Her fiancé, Steven Chipworth, had been provided with a cot, and had obviously spent the night by her side. Both mammals were currently standing by the window, looking over at the main hospital. Both turned to face him as he entered into the room.

Their faces still displayed some of the grief that he had been a part of yesterday, but gone were the utterly lost gazes. Both were still hurting, and there would be a long road ahead before things got back to anything resembling normal, but they were past the real horror now.

“Hello Ms. Woodman, Mr. Chipworth.” He began. Normally he would have asked how they were feeling, but given what they had been through it would have been a hollow platitude.

Fortunately they spared him, and Ms. Woodman chose to spoke up. Her voice was hesitant but clear “Good morning Dr. Hawthorne. Dr. Cerval told us that you’d be by this morning. I...I don’t know if I can thank you for helping yesterday, but you and Ellen...well we’re here, and that’s that.”

“Now that Dr. Kent however. He had better hope that we never see him again outside of court.” Steven spoke angrily.

Dave nodded with some understanding, and he would have to mention to Doug that the couple were probably considering legal action. _”Rightly so.”_ he thought to himself. Unfortunately, the Centre would probably settle the case for Jason outside of the courts, and the ZMA would never be involved. As had been so obvious yesterday, they needed him unless they had some real luck on the recruiting side of things. _“And a healthy feline-canid hybrid might walk through the front doors as well.”_

“First, I can assure you that Dr. Kent will not be interacting with you or any other patient for the time being. Now, have you had any pain since last night, or any changes in your condition that you’re concerned about?” he finally asked, moving onto the safe clinical questions.  

“No, nothing really. Some soreness, but not anything severe.” Beth answered.

“I’d like to give you another exam, and providing that there’s nothing untowards, I don’t see a problem recommending that you be discharged today.” He made some notes in her chart before moving to wash his paws again. “Did you want to have a chance to speak with Ellen again before you leave? She’ll be in at 10.”

“She already said she’d come by as soon as she arrived.” Beth moved back to her bed and clambered back up to sit on its edge.

Dave made his way over to her, and went about performing a brief external exam. While he was listening to Beth’s heartbeat, Steven tentatively spoke up “So is it true what we’ve heard?” He paused briefly before continuing at a near whisper, “Did you actually punch that asshole?”

Dave couldn’t help but freeze for a second as he paused his examination, _“Did Laura tell EVERYONE!”_ was what he thought but what he actually said was a embarrassed  “Uhh...No, I did not _punch_ him.” followed by a noncommittal smile. It was the truth, well close enough that the Centre’s legal staff would be satisfied.

“Steven, leave him alone!” Beth admonished. “Sorry about that Doctor, but thank you if it is true.”

Dave turned his full focus to completing the exam, hoping that the blush he could feel rising through his face remained hidden under his fur.

Finishing up without finding anything of concern he motioned that Beth could get off the bed if she wished, and pulled up a chair so he was facing both of them. “From the exam, I’m going to give you the OK to leave today.” He removed an envelope from her chart and handed it over to her. “Dr. Cerval and I have included some instructions in case you experience any problems, but if you have any concerns, the Centre’s emergency number is located on the front, here.” He pointed out the regular and emergency contact numbers.

“We’d like for you to return next week for a follow up exam, but you can also arrange for something with your primary physician.” He paused briefly, and averted his gaze. “Based on what happened, we...I would understand fully if you wanted this place out of sight, out of mind as soon as possible.”

Both beavers gave some thought to this, and it was Beth who spoke first. “We’ll think about the follow up Doctor.” She drew a slightly hitched breath, “I’m not sure what we’ll decide, but just know that you’ve been...well you and Ellen made a difference.” She shook her head slightly, “I’m not sure I’m anywhere close to ready to forgive, but I do know enough to place the blame where it’s due...and that isn’t you.”

It was more than he deserved, and he nodded his head smiling ruefully, “I understand...Once you’re done with Ellen, you can leave whenever you’d like. Just let someone on staff know before you head out.” He paused briefly, “You can also tell them to not check in with you regarding the follow up if you like. I’d still like to know that you went to someone, but you don’t have to do that.”

Beth nodded her head in response, and he stood up and offered his paw to each of them in turn. “If you do have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me.”

He turned to leave the room. Part of him wanted them to say something else, but silence was his only company as he walked out and closed the door behind him.

* * *

 

The remaining rounds had proceeded without incident. Ms. Pandel was alone in her room when he arrived. Her husband needed to go and tend to their store while they waited for Dr. Pawson to review the battery of tests that she had ordered the previous day with them. He had looked them over, but had reserved any opinion until Laura could speak with them.

His guess was that she would recommend corrective surgery shortly after birth, as the risks associated with performing it _in utero_ were just too high. Aside from that, everything looked fine for both the mother and the foal, and this information he did share with her. Laura had made a note that Debbie could be released after the consult, but that she was to avoid any strenuous work, and to come into the Centre weekly for checkups.

Ms Lightfoot, was likewise given the go ahead to be discharged with a similar follow up request, and Ms. Robins’ exam showed nothing untowards, but they would keep her overnight to be safe. She had suffered from some hemorrhaging during the miscarriage, and they want to be sure that there would be no additional bleeding. As a matter of size, small mammals were particularly sensitive to blood loss. A 1kg rat could be in critical condition after losing only 30ml of blood, while a zebra suffering from a bad nose bleed could literally paint the walls of an exam room red and not suffer any adverse effects***.

With the morning rounds accomplished, Dave looked up at the clock. It read 10:35. Not enough time to do anything of worth in the lab, but too much to just sit idle. He made his way to his office and pulled up the sequencing files he was looking over yesterday. He might not be able to suit up to go into the lab and section the tissue samples he had collected yesterday, but he could at least try and tackle the backlog of data that had been building up on him.

He spent the next hour and a half lost in a world that was comprised of only 4 letters: A, T, G, and C. It was a language he knew very well, and he worked to decipher their meaning, in the hope of understanding what had gone wrong for his patients.

* * *

**End Notes,**

Well sorry to make this one a bit shorter than the previous chapters. Life threw me a couple of curveballs that I needed to juggle before getting this written. New job opportunities, an IT nightmare, and research data coming in by the van full (well the field crew needs to get back somehow don’t they).

So on to the usual end notes. This chapter is mainly setting the stage for act 2 now, and I hope that you will stay with it. Some new players have entered the field, and their role will become important. Bonus imaginary “Science Points” to anyone who can predict what Tommy’s underlying condition is.

Note: NickWilde and WildeHopps, you’re disqualified as I’ve already shared some of my secrets with you.

Now onto a much abbreviated **Science Time!**

** **Absolute Alcohol:** First I will neither confirm nor deny the consumption of anhydrous ethyl alcohol in the lab. Doing so represents a major safety risk as many labs are filled with highly toxic compounds.

Now that the disclaimer is over, let’s talk a bit about alcohol. The type of alcohol that we drink is ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH). As we now know, it’s quite dangerous, and if it were something that was being considered now for human consumption, it would never make it past the various regulatory bodies. Regardless, it has extremely important cultural history, and has a firm place in our shared culture.

Generally the distillation process used for the alcohol used in spirits is limited to a maximum concentration of about 95%(ABV). For some research and commercial purposes this isn’t enough, so additional distillation using something like azeotropic distillation is used to get the water content down to <1%. SOME of this anhydrous alcohol is “safe” for human consumption, but think about the concentration a bit. 100ml of this stuff is the equivalent to 250ml of a normal 40% spirit. It’s dangerous, so I don’t recommend using it at all, but I’d be remiss if there were not many tales of lab Purple Jesus’ being served on a Friday afternoon in the 80’s.

...I get the feeling lab work was a bit more fun before I got there.

Now there is plenty of alcohol in the lab labeled 95% ethanol...THIS IS NOT SAFE TO DRINK! That other 5% can be nasty. This is sometimes called drum ethanol and it is generally contaminated with benzene, hexane, methanol, and a whole host of other toxic compounds.

  
For this reason, as a general rule of thumb, don’t eat or drink in the lab.

*** **Relative Blood Volume:** This is absolutely true, and there are several example of this that can be seen. An average sized zebra or horse will have over 40L of blood. This means that, much as with a human, a 10% loss can be tolerated with no ill effects. Most people will have little experience with 4L of blood…but it’s a lot. Trust me on this, the results resemble a horror flick.

One more minor note, E&E stands for escape and evasion. In the US and other militaries, variation on this are taught to a wide variety of personnel, often as part of the SERE course (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thanks for everyone for reading, and a big thank you to WildeNick for helping to edit this. If you’re interested, his own stories Three Months A Fox and Good Cops Like You are both excellent reads.
> 
> I’ll try to get the next chapter out with less of delay.
> 
> Eng050599


	6. Chapter 6: Compatibility and Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in getting this one out the door. My plan to finish writing over the weekend ran into a combination of real life intruding, and not being satisfied with the flow of the chapter. This resulted in an almost complete rewrite of the middle section, but I hope it feels natural.
> 
> A big help this week came from WildeNick, who once again was the primary editor on this chapter. If anyone hasn’t had a chance to do so, you should head over and check out his story “Three Months a Fox”. It’s an interesting take on the timeframe between the press conference and Judy’s return from Bunnyburrow; showcasing Nick’s emotional and mental state as the situation for predators becomes more serious.
> 
> Full Disclosure: I have assisted in editing his story, but I really think it’s incredibly well written and covers some interesting ground that others have not really touched upon.
> 
> On another note, these past 2 weeks also saw the first ever cameo appearance of Dave, Carol and some of the Centre staff in Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps’ “One Hundred Kisses” as part of chapters 91 and 92 (and mentioned in 90 as well). I’d like to thank him for including these characters into his story. 
> 
> If you haven’t read it and would like to read something very different from LC&BD, you should do yourself a favor and give it a read. It’s (mostly) lighthearted and incredibly cute. Don’t forget to also read his “Always my Sly Bunny, Always my Dumb Fox” series. It’s not quite as fluff filled as One Hundred Kisses, but the story is intriguing, and even has a scientific theme in several chapters. 
> 
> To say that there was slight uptick in the number of readers of Lost Causes and Broken Dreams as a result of the cameo is an understatement, and I hope that they enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy this story...even if it is very different from One Hundred Kisses.
> 
> I very much enjoyed the collaboration, and look forward to us being able to cross-pollinate our worlds when the plotlines deserve it. 
> 
> Now to thank those readers who took the time to comment since the last update:
> 
> From FF.net: 
> 
> Jackofallfables: Thank you for your comments, and I do hope to continue to strike a balance between despair and hope...although the latter can sometimes be false.
> 
> WildeHopps: As always your comments, I value the input they provide. I tried very hard to make the discussion between Dave, Ms. Woodman and Mr. Chipworth realistic. I’ve only experienced something like this 3rd hand (dealing with the fallout of something not quite this devastating, but still bad), and I’m glad it came off as accurate.
> 
> And thanks again for allowing me to take part in your own writings. I look forward to being able to do it again.
> 
> Nikolaiwulf: Thanks for the comments, and sorry it took so long to get this one out. I try to force myself to one chapter every 2 weeks or faster, but reality is a harsh mistress.
> 
> From AO3:
> 
> Michael: Thanks for both the complement and the question. I hope my answer cleared up the genetics involved in the hinny.
> 
> Now that all the thank yous are out of the way. We now return to our story.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Compatibility and Questions**

The screen in front of him was filled with walls of letters. On the upper portion scrolled a series of As, Ts, Gs, and Cs, while underneath another series of letters moved along at a much slower rate. These were the alphabet of life, the nucleotides from the genome on top, the amino acids of the encoded protein on the bottom. His eyes followed along the sequence, until he came across the error, indicated by an asterisk interrupting the string of letters. He released the arrow key and leaned forward, his elbow resting on the desk, and his chin resting on his paw.

Bringing up the normal version of the gene, he could see the single nucleotide change that resulted in the premature termination of the sterol transporter. This was the first time he’d seen something like it in any mammalian species, as the most common genetic abnormality associated with this was caused by a missense mutation, a change in the sequence of the protein, but one that still formed a whole unit.

In this case, not only was the beginning of the protein truncated right after a series of transmembrane domains, a region where the protein weaves in and out of the cell membranes, but the entire C-terminal region appeared to be transcribed as a separate protein. It was an utterly novel setup for the gene, but ultimately, not a functionally viable one.

By itself, it wouldn’t have been enough to cause the death of the fetus in utero, and while the chances were good that he could have corrected the mutated gene, this had only been just a single example of the many genetic abnormalities this little one had been afflicted by. There had been nothing that they could do, but now they used the tragedy to try and understand what had gone wrong

 _”…and more importantly, try to figure out how to fix it.”_ Dave thought to himself. He made several notes regarding some additional tests that he wanted to run on the fixed tissues that had been collected the previous week. When dealing with novel changes in genes, the first step was always to determine what had been altered. He was looking at the results of this first inquiry now. The next step was to see what kind of effect it would have on a cellular level.

For this protein, he would need to look at how the mutated variants were distributed in the cell. Either Beth or Genevieve had probably sectioned the tissue already, so he should be able to book some time on the confocal microscope once he, _”...or more likely Abby”_ he mentally added, had designed the probes to identify the protein, he would be able to see where they could be found in the cell. Knowing this, and how the once single protein interacted as a two part system might provide some insight into the regulatory underpinnings of the whole gene family.

“It’s definitely going to be associated with the lysozome, and maybe the ER or Golgi.” He mused to himself before a vibration from his phone drew his attention away from the screen.

“Are you joining us Dr. Hawthorne?” Was all the text from Doug Wilson stated.

Dave looked at the clock, which showed 11:55. _“I still have 5 minutes.”_ He thought to himself before the memory of his conversation with Doug that morning played back in his head, _“…it’s booked from 11:45-12:30 instead.”_

“Oh shit!” He cursed to the empty office, and quickly gathered up his notebook and headed off towards the stairs at a sprint.

* * *

 

There was a round of chuckles from inside the boardroom as he knocked on the door and let himself in. The other 3 physicians who would be handling the consultations today were already in attendance, and they took in his sheepish expression with unconcealed amusement.

A sable colored ferret motioned with her paw towards the rooms other female occupant, a mid-sized jaguar. “I told you he’d forget again, pay up.” She said, giving Dave a wink as she did so.

“Fine Laura, here.” Catherine reached into her coat pocket and retrieved a $20 bill which she slid across the table. Looking to Dave, she fixed him with a disapproving glare. “I guess my inside source was wrong about you remembering this time.”

“In my defence, I did remember the consult day. It was the meeting time change that I apparently forgot about.” Dave added apologetically. “Doug, did you send out an email about that? Because I don’t remember seeing anything in the past while, and the first I heard of it was from Mr. Mills this morning.”

Doug checked his phone as he spoke, “We sent out a memo last Friday.” He paused slightly and cocked his long ears in puzzlement. “Laura, you might want to return that twenty. Dave wasn’t included in the email.” He looked up from the phone and spoke directly to Dave, noticing out of the corner of his eye that the bill was slid back across the table. “That mistake is on me, but as we’re already running behind, let’s get a move on.”

“Doug one more thing before we start.” Dave took his seat and looked to the older rabbit. “During my exam of Ms. Woodman, her fiance  made mention of suing Jason in regards to their treatment yesterday. They might also include the Centre, Sara and Doug Mills, Ellen and myself, as we were all involved.” He paused momentarily, his ears pinning back in a mixture of shame and anger. “She did mention that efforts of Ellen and I were appreciated, but you...”

Doug held up a paw to stop Dave and shook his head. “I already anticipated this, and our legal team has been made aware of it.” His ears drooped and he shook his head before continuing. “They’ll settle whatever suits come out of this, and we get to keep Dr. Kent.”

“Not a fair trade in my book.” Catherine said, her own displeasure indicated by the half snarl on her muzzle.

“No, but we need him until we can successfully find a replacement...which I am going to be making a priority.” Doug added, looking towards Dave with his eyebrows and ears raised. “Regardless, we’re running late, so let’s get started.”

The rabbit, pressed a button on the table and the large screen behind the table displayed a table detailing the known consults for the day. Dave looked at the schedule and relaxed slightly. There were only about 30 appointments for the day, and only 7 for him directly; a mercy compared to the 13 couples he had to deal with two months ago. The schedule was not rigid though, and when needed, the physicians traded off cases with each other for ones more related to their own specialties. It usually led to some confusion and delays, but they always managed to see every couple in the end; even if they could only help a small proportion of them. Patient histories were almost never one hundred percent complete, and additional information gained during the consult could change the entire direction of a treatment plan.

“There doesn't appear to be any surprises from the pre-screening questions, and Jim went through the list last night to match things up for each of us.” He looked over to Dr. Pawson “Laura, you’re going to have a bit more to handle this time around, as we have 8 couples with a known history of heart defects. If you get too swamped, let one of us know.”

Laura made some notes after looking at the information on the screen. “I should be OK with the numbers. Most of the problems can be avoided with genetic screening in advance, and I’ll try to convince the couples most likely to be affected to elect to have IVF done so that we can screen the embryos prior to implantation.”

She shrugged slightly as something occurred to her. “Those that don’t, I’ll just point out the risks associated with corrective surgery where that’s even possible.” Circling a couple of names in her notebook she continued “For at least 3 of these couples, not going for genetic screening will mean about a 25 percent chance that the cub will inherit the defect, and even with gene therapy the prognosis is poor.”

“It’s going to be the same for all of us.” Catherine was looking over her own list of couples that she’d be seeing. “For the incompatible species, we just have to deliver the bad news and suggest alternatives. For the compatible couples with genetic issues, we press to have them make use of IVF and genetic screening.”

Doug nodded at her, “Just remember that even for the incompatible couples, we’d like to get them to consent to genetic screening. We might not be able to help them now, but it might happen down the road.”

Dave also nodded at this. The genetic screens were the main reason why the Centre had an open consult day. If the couples consented, their genomes would be sequenced and a report flagging potential risk factors both for the individual, and for any children that they might have. This was only part of the reason though. That same data would be anonymized, with only the species information of the donor kept, and the information added to the genetic database that the Centre used as part of its research. Eventually, that data was released to other institutions for research, and none of it was allowed to be directly patented.

To date, the Centre had sequenced just over 15,000 genomes representing more than 120 different species. If today went well, they would be able to add over 4 dozen more to the database.

“All right then, are there any questions?” Doug asked. To which the assembled mammals shook their heads. “OK, Laura you’re in conference room 2. Dave you take 3…”

Dave grabbed the materials that he would need for the day, and made his way across the hall to his assigned room. The room itself was nearly the same size as one of the standard exam rooms downstairs, but instead of a bed, it was centered by a round conference table which took up most of the space. The wall opposite the door was itself a single contiguous whiteboard and in front of it, a sturdily built roller stand struggled to keep aloft a mammoth flat panel display. _‘Only the best for the centre’_  Dave thought as he turned on the screen and checked that the files in his personal cloud were still accessible.  He then went about arranging the various pamphlets and materials that he would hand out over the course of the day, and he took a moment to consider the news that he would be delivering shortly. It was never easy to crush a couple’s dreams, but it was better for all concerned that they find out now, rather than need the Centre’s services a couple of months down the road.

He took special care to ensure that the information from Zootopia Cub and Family Services regarding adoption was prominently featured. For the incompatible species, it currently remained the best solution for them to start a family, but all too few ended up taking one of the pamphlets. Over the years he had seen so many mammals fight against nature to have biological children of their own. It was after all one of the most primal instincts shared by mammals.

To some, it was the ultimate way that a couple could express their love for each other; by allowing the best parts of each to come together in something new and wonderful. For other inter couples though, after coming to the Centre in hopes of the impossible, directing them towards adoption was another way for them to express their love and to provide good families to the kits, pups, calves, and kittens that desperately wanted to have one of their own.

Even knowing the underlying psychology didn’t make one immune to it, and he and Carol had discussed having pups of their own. It was something that they both wanted...just not at this moment. In fact, Carol had made several, fortunately anatomically impossible, threats towards him if she were to become pregnant.

He gave a little chuckle at the memory, and as an afterthought, retrieved a small stack of business cards from his pocket, and placed them on the table.  He took one final look around the room to see that it was ready, then steeled himself for the day ahead. He took a deep breath, and then walked back to the waiting room to see his first couple.

* * *

 

The second floor waiting room didn’t usually see a lot of traffic. Relatives of mammals who were being treated by the Centre would make use of it, often kept company by Ellen or one of the other counsellors, but it was almost always a solitary refuge for them. That wasn’t the case during open consult day, and Dave was glad that Ms. Robins’ husband hadn’t needed to use the room as there were already about a dozen mammals waiting in it. As far as Dave knew, Mr. Robins hadn’t left his wife’s side since last night.

As he approached the entrance to the room, he saw two beavers waiting at the elevator down the hall. Ms. Woodman must have felt his gaze and she looked over at him. He raised a paw in solemn farewell, but then lowered his gaze, still feeling shame at the events from yesterday. She did return his gesture, but both she and her fiancé said nothing as they boarded the elevator. He gave himself a shake, and then turned to walk into the waiting room.

From the information on file, he could see why Jim has paired him up with this couple. He approached the two wolves, one a deep sable, one a mixture of gray and white, and offered his paw to each in turn. “Hello Mr. and Ms. Gates, I’m Dr. Hawthorne, one of the attending physicians here at the Honeywell Centre. If you could please come with me, we’ll try and see if the Centre can help both of you.”

“Thank you for seeing us.” Ms. Gates said as she and her husband stood and made to follow Dave out of the waiting room. “When Tim and I found out about this place a month ago, we thought you only dealt with inter couples.”

“Well that is our primary focus, but we _are_ the best genetic research facility in the world, and we try to make sure that all mammals can benefit from our services.” Dave said as he led the couple across the hall, and he motioned for them to enter the conference room and take a seat.

After closing the door, he took a seat across from them, and prepared to start taking notes. “From your file, you’re concerned about some health issues that are in both your backgrounds?”

“Yeah, both our families have lost pups to Menkes Syndrome. We know that I’m not a carrier…you know, since I’m not dead, but Rebecca might be.” Tim said reaching over the grasp the paw of his wife. “We held off starting a family for a few years now because of it, but our doctor mentioned that there were some options now.”

Dave nodded in reply while considering the best solution for the couple. In canines, Menkes Syndrome was caused by an ‘X’ chromosome mutation that corrupted a copper transporter. Left untreated, it was lethal. The genetic ods lined up that, if Ms. Gates was a carrier, any male pup she had, would have a 50% chance of inheriting the lethal version of the gene. Additionally, although none of the female pups would suffer from the syndrome, half of them would be carriers and face the same dilemma as their parents.

“Yes, fortunately we now have several options for preventing this.” Dave had a smile on his muzzle as he spoke. “The first thing I’d recommend is that we perform a genetic screen on Ms. Gates to determine if she is a carrier. We’d also ask to do a screening on you as well Mr. Gates, just to ensure there aren’t any other issues that we should consider. Additionally, the information may help us to understand these conditions better, and improve our ability to treat them in the future.”

He reached over and retrieved two of the information sheets that had been prepared specifically for this particular situation, and handed them to the couple. “If we do find out that you’re a carrier Ms. Gates, the best option will be to make use of in vitro fertilization so that we can screen the embryos and ensure that they’ve received the functional version of the gene.”

Seeing some hesitancy in the couple, he motioned for them to voice their concerns.

“What happens to the ones that aren’t selected?” Ms. Gates asked as her paw touched a pendant that she wore. Dave hadn’t noticed it previously, but the symbol etched on it belonged to one of the various religions practiced in Zootopia. He wasn’t familiar with it in detail, but the Centre had dealt with this kind of objection previously.

“Normally, they would be discarded, but we do realize that some mammals feel that that’s not acceptable.” He pointed to the second information sheet. “If you prefer, we can attempt to repair the faulty gene using a combination of genetic editing and viral transformation. Basically, we cut out the faulty gene, and replace it with a functional one.”

He made sure that both mammals were paying attention before he continued, “I should point out that going this route does increase the risks to the pups. We’ve made considerable advances in this field, but things can still go wrong. Editing the genome isn’t something to be done lightly. Even if we take every precaution, there’s still a chance that the wrong sequence gets cut, or the insertion occurs in a different location than what we planned.”

He let his words sink in. “The decision of what route to go is completely up to you. I’d put the success rate for the selective IVF in excess of 60%. If we forgo the selection and try to repair the damaged gene, the success rate will drop, but not considerably, although there may be health complications down the road. Do you have any questions about this?” He asked.

“Can we have some time to think about it?” Mr. Gates asked looking over the information Dave had provided.

“You don’t need to decide now, and you can pretty well change your mind at any point in the process.” Dave answered, “Once we’ve created the embryos, they can be stored for years, but I’d recommend making the decision before we reach that stage.”

“For now” He continued “We’ll need to work up the genetic profile for you before you make any big decisions. We should have that complete within 4 weeks, and we can create a treatment plan from there.”

He went over the various procedures, and had them agree to at least begin the screening process. After collecting some cheek swabs, and asking them to stop off downstairs for a blood sample, he shook both their paws, and provided them one of the business cards he’d laid out earlier. “If you have any questions, just let me know.”

“Thank you, and we’ll...we’ll think about the options.” Ms Gates said as she and her husband took the forms and headed towards the stairs.

Dave took a moment to reorganize the conference room and then reached for the next folder from his pile.

 _“What the?”_ Was all he could think upon reading the provided information. “This one’s going to be interesting.” He muttered to himself before heading back to the waiting room.

* * *

 

The lynx and rabbit couple were all smiles when Dave introduced himself and took them across to the conference room. Ms. Ridley had a rather large folder with her, and the doe had immediately started taking out various photos and newspaper clippings when she was seated.

“Sorry if I’m a bit disorganized doctor.” The doe appeared to be somewhat flustered, but finally found whatever she’d been looking for. “Lewis and I have wanted to start a family for a while now, but everywhere we’ve gone they say it’s impossible.”

Dave made sure that his voice was calm and professional, as he once again was about to crush a couple’s dreams. “Ms. Ridley, I’m afraid that that’s correct. The genetic differences between you and your husband are just too great for it to work.”

Mr. Ridley chose that moment to chime in, “Aye, that’s what we’ve been told again and again.” his voice was a heavily accented brogue, “Me mum though had tales from back in the old country where the kinnen and the malkin were living together an’ having many wee bairns to their names.”

Dave had never heard of kinnen or malkin, but he could only assume that they were some type of feline and rabbits. Ms. Ridley passed over the papers that she had gathered and Dave began to look them over.

They were a mixture of photocopies from old historical texts, as well as printouts from various websites, all dealing with something called a cabbit. Several photos appeared to show various feline species with stunted tails and longer than normal hind legs. In some cases, they appeared to be undoctored, but for some, the liberal use of Photoshop was evident.

He fought not to sigh, when he finally clued into what the couple was referring to. “Mr. Ridley, can I assume that your family was originally from the Isle of Mann?”

The lynx nodded his head. “Aye, me folks came over when I was a wee one, but mum could trace herself back there a dozen generations.”

Dave nodded before continuing, “Unfortunately, I do have some bad news for you both. What you’re describing aren’t hybrids between Leporidae and Felidae; rabbits and felines.” He added before pausing briefly, as Ms. Ridley looked like she wanted to interject, but her husband reached over and took her paw to forestall her. “A population of felines from on the Isle of Mann started exhibiting this disorder back in the early 1800’s. It’s caused by a mutation in one of the genes that regulates the development of the tail, as well as the hind limbs.”

He pointed out the features in some of the images that they had brought with them. “In the extreme cases, individuals with this condition can exhibit a hopping gait, but genetically, they are still felines.”

Ms. Ridley deflated in her chair, and Dave could see that there were tears threatening to fall from her eyes “I thought we might be onto something for once Lewis.”

Her husband leaned over and wrapped his paws around her. Dave reached over and grabbed some tissues which he offered to the doe.

“I afraid that there’s very little that we can do for you now, but this is something that we’re trying to make possible in the future.” He handed over some information pamphlets regarding the research done at the Centre before continuing. “If possible, we would like to perform a genetic screen on the two of you. The information that provides will go a long way towards helping us to figure out how to make this a real possibility in the future.”

“What’s needed?” Ms. Ridley asked.

“Just a cheek swab, and a blood sample. Once the profile’s complete we can go over it with you or forward it to your family physician.” Dave reached over for one final pamphlet. “We might not be able to help you now, but there are other options that you might want to consider.”

He handed over the Zootopia Cub and Family Services information brochure to the doe who nodded her head, but placed the pamphlet back down on the table. “Adoption was the first thing we thought of, but our first meeting with them…it didn’t go well.”

“Really?” Dave was surprised, as he had sent several couples to Family Services over the years.

“That bastart did’n want an inter couple in his office.” Mr Ridley spat out, his ears went back and his fangs bared slightly at the memory.

Dave eyes went wide in shock at both the underlying anger, and what he knew was a clear breach of ZCFS policy. He took a moment to compose himself, and reached for his phone to look up the contact information for Beverly Whitehare, the Centre’s usual contact with the ZCFS. “I don’t know who you were speaking to, but that is NOT the policy of Family Services.” He retrieved the pamphlet from in front of Mr. Ridley, and wrote down the contact info before passing it back. “Call Ms. Whitehare, and she’ll get things settled for you. The adoption process is a long road, and you may end up being rejected, but it won’t be for being an inter couple. That I can promise you.”

“Thank you for this doctor. We’re sorry to waste your time with folktales.” The doe added while gathering up her research.

Dave reached over and retrieved a couple of swabs from the back of the room and wrote up the forms for the blood draws. “No need to apologize. You both want to start a family, and it’s my regret that we can’t do more for you.”

He allowed some of the regret that he felt show in his expression, “Having kits is something that both of you dearly want, and right now we’re not able to help you have biological children of your own, but there are a great many kits out there who would very much want to have parents like you.” He smiled warmly as he gave voice to his impression of the couple. “I hope that you’ll at least look into it as an option.”

He gave himself a small shake before a smile returned to his muzzle, “Now if you’d both just open wide, I’ll get those cheek swabs taken care of.”

* * *

 

When he’d finished with the couple, he sent them downstairs to finish the sampling process. The next folder promised to be slightly more mundane as he we gathered the red deer and elk couple from the waiting room.

“Ms. Taft and Mr. Fairwell? He asked offering his paw in greeting and shaking their outstretched hooves. “I’m Dr. Hawthorne, would you please come with me.”

After getting them settled, the usual questions began. The couple was looking to have a couple of calves, but were unsure what issues could come about.

“We were able to find some stuff online, but some of it seemed a bit sketchy.” Mr. Fairwell had added.

Dave nodded in understanding, “The internet has been a great boon to mammalkind…but separating the good from the bad can be tricky at the best of times.”

“With regards to you having calves, there is some good news and a little bad news as well.” Dave paused and made sure he had their full attention. “Hybrids between your species are usually highly successful, and don’t have any major contraindications. Unfortunately, there can be some developmental delays, but those are relatively minor, and can usually be mitigated.”

The relief showed on both mammals faces as they received the news. “Are there any other risks?” Ms. Taft asked.

“Nothing outside of those normally seen during pregnancy.” Dave answered; glad to be able to deliver mostly happy news. “As is the case, we’d like to work up a genetic profile for each of you…”

The rest of the consultation followed a similar path to the previous ones, and he was shortly thereafter bidding the couple farewell, and reaching for the next folder on his pile.

 _“This one’s going to be a bit tricker.”_ He thought to himself looking over the details of their background as he crossed back to the waiting room again.

* * *

 

“Ms. and Mr. Farid? I’m Dr. Hawthorne.” He said offering his paw to the well-dressed camel and llama couple.

“Good afternoon doctor. Thank you for seeing us today.” Mr. Farid said with a practiced formality as both he and his wife stood up. Both were considerably taller than the wolf, and he was forced to look up to meet their gaze.

“If you’ll please follow me.” He said and made his way out of the waiting room. The couple remained silent until Dave had shut the door and taken his seat.

“Doctor, as you have probably ascertained, my wife and I would like to have a calf, but we haven’t been able to find much information regarding possible compatibility.” Mr. Farid began once again using a unusually measured and formal cadence. “My background in science is quite limited though, and as a result, the more formal literature was quite above my head.”

Dave nodded in understanding and had a genuine smile on his muzzle as he replied. “At times I feel there’s an unofficial rule in place, that journals require all articles submitted for publication to cram in as much jargon in as possible, and preferably contain entire sentences composed of only those words. To say nothing of authors using the same acronyms as other fields, but for something entirely different.”

He paused briefly before adding, somewhat contritely “As someone who has contributed to this problem myself, you have my apologies.”

His reply had the intended effect, and he finally coaxed a sound from Ms. Farid, who had thus far been completely silent. Her laugh seemed to break the ice as it were, as she contributed to the conversation, “I had noticed that particular problem as well. My own background is in economics, so genetics and mitosis are only vaguely remembered concepts from high school.”

Her husband took her hoof in his, “We realized that we were out of our element, and when we first reached out, we were directed here quite quickly.”

“It’s good that you did.” Dave said as he brought up some information on the monitor. “Crosses between your two species are extremely rare, but they can result in healthy calves.”

The monitor showed multiple images of one of the recorded hybrids from approximately 3 decades ago. The couple were staring at the screen with rapt attention. “This individual was born after his parents made use of some of the earliest in vitro fertilization techniques, and there have been a handful of other _‘camas’_ born over the years.”

He gave the couple a few moments to collect themselves before he continued. “I should warn you that the overall success rate per IVF cycle is quite low. If memory serve me correctly, this first success only came after approximately 30 embryos had been generated. Most failed prior to implantation, but it did take several attempts before they succeeded.”

This revelation caused some of the excitement to drain from their faces, but hope was still there. “Although we only have a limited number of individuals to base any conclusions on, all of the hybrids to date have had no severe health issues, but there may be some fertility issues that we just don’t know about.”

“But it is possible, correct?” Ms. Farid asked.

“There’s a good chance that we will be able to assist both of you, but there are no guarantees with this type of treatment. It does however represent your best chance for conceiving a calf.” Dave answered, “There are a series of tests that we’ll need to perform on both of you before we move forward.” He gathered up a series of information sheets, and went over the specifics of what was required. The process would be fairly involved, but he felt confident that the couple would be successful.

* * *

 

As with his previous consults, he parted ways with them after obtaining the buccal swabs and directing them down to the 1st floor for blood draws.

Looking at the next few folders in his pile, he realized that his opportunity to be the bearer of good news had run out for another day. The remaining 3 couples were from pairings that were almost invariably lethal during the early stages of embryo formation…when things even progressed that far.

The first couple, a Francis and Rachel Tester had taken the news stoically. The horse and sheep couple had known that there was little hope for their union to be fruitful, and had simply gathered up their belongings and left without taking any of the offered literature.

Things had been harder with Mr. and Ms Grazemore, a water buffalo and bison couple from the Medowlands.

“There has to be some way you can make it work!” An agitated Mr. Grazemore nearly shouted when Dave had indicated that the differences between the two species were simply too great for them to have children.

Ms. Grazemore’s eyes were filling with tears as he tried to calm her husband. “Blake, he would have told us if they could do anything.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Grazemore, but every attempt has failed. Even when using in vitro fertilization, the embryos never progress past the 8 cell stage.” He explained, bringing up several images showing the relevant publications, as well as offering the much larger mammal some tissues. “The differences between the two genomes just makes proper cell division too difficult. Without those early cell divisions occurring properly, there’s no way for the embryo to form.”

“No, you’re lying!” The water buffalo stood up and loomed over Dave, who worked to maintain a calm expression. “All this, and you can’t do anything?” He gestured around him wildly, “No, you just don’t want to help us inters.”

“Blake, don’t be stupid!” Ms. Grazemore admonished, “Inters are what this place specializes in. Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?”

The water buffalo didn’t seem entirely convinced, but he did return to his seat, to which Dave quietly gave thanks.

“Mr. Grazemore, if I were able to help you, I would do so without hesitation. I’m in an interspecies relationship myself, as is almost a quarter of the staff here.” He paused to allow his words to sink in. “Right now, there is nothing that we can do to help you conceive a calf of your own, but we are working every day here to make that a possibility in the future.”

He gathered up some material for them and handed it over to Ms. Grazemore before continuing, “If you’d be willing, we would like to work up a genetic profile for both of you. The information we gain from it might help us understand exactly why hybrids from your two species aren’t viable. The fact that the embryo does undergo some replication means that there is hope, but we’re still a long way from being able to make it a possibility.”

The couple nodded, and he went about swabbing their cheeks. Before he sent them downstairs, he offered them one of the ZCFS pamphlets. “For now, there are other options if you want to start a family.” He said, noting that Ms. Grazemore nodded when she realized the nature of the information. “Please give it some thought.”

Showing them to the door, he offered his paw to both mammals as they left. “We’ll be in contact with you in about 4 weeks to go over the details of the genomic screening, and will try to answer any questions you might have.”

The two had left without another word, and Dave gave a sigh of relief when they entered the elevator. An angry water buffalo was not something that he wanted to deal with, and security at the centre was fairly light, with only a single guard by the front desk.

He allowed himself to chuckle as he thought how Carol would have dealt with the situation. _“She would have egged him on and then laid him out just to prove she could.”_ He mused internally.

Heading back into the conference room, he retrieved the final folder from his stack. “Hopefully this one will go a bit smoother.” He muttered to himself as he made his way to the waiting room.

* * *

 

The canine couple looked up as he approached them. The gray fox and maned wolf couple were among the last mammals there, and they looked at him with some degree of relief.

“Ms. Howle and Mr. Bay; I’m Dr. Hawthorne.” He began the ritual again, motioning for them to follow him after the introductions were out of the way.

As with the previous mammals, he hadn’t been able to provide them the news that they had wanted. Both of them were effectively limited to only being able to reproduce with another of their own species, but they had taken the news better than Mr. Grazemore at least.

After seeing them on their way, he went about clearing out the conference room when a knock at the door interrupted him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Natalie, the centre’s receptionist was holding another file in her hooves.

“Dr. Hawthorne, would you be able to take one more consultation?” The gnu asked “They just arrived and specifically asked to speak to you.”

“That’s fine Natalie, I just finished with my scheduled consults, but haven’t packed thing up just yet.” He replied, working quickly to replace the various items he had been in the process of clearing.

“Thank you doctor.” She looked over her shoulder and motioned for someone to approach. Dave noticed that there was a wry smile on her muzzle as she handed over the file, and left.

Dave looked up as three somewhat familiar mammals entered into the room, and a very real smile crested his muzzle as he recognized them from the photos Delgato had showed him the previous day.

“Mr. and Ms. Fangwell. It’s good to see you again.” He said warmly, offering each of the adults his paw. Looking over to the cub partially hiding behind his mother’s skirt, he squatted down and offered his paw to the shy tigon. “And you must be Lucas.”

The cub smiled at the use of his name, and he took the proffered paw with only some hesitation. “Hi!” was all he said before returning to warily watching him from behind his mother’s legs.

“I’m Dr. Hawthorne” He said to all three mammals, but he knew that it was more for Lucas. Looking up at the parents he added “I’m guessing that Mark got in touch with you.” He shook his head before continuing. “I wasn’t expecting for you to actually come by, but thank you.”

“When Mark called, the timing worked for us.” Tom said, his own smile plain to see “We were planning on coming in soon regardless, as we’ve been thinking about expanding the family a bit more. Why not kill 2 birds with one stone?” He added with a laugh.

“Well we can certainly help in that regard. Would you mind if a few of the staff came by after we’re finished? I can think of quite a few mammals who would love to see Lucas doing so well.” Dave asked as he quickly composed a message asking for various mammals to meet in the boardroom in 20 minutes. He didn’t state why in the message _“That would spoil the surprise.”_ He thought, waiting for the Fangwells to agree before hitting send.

“That’s fine doctor.” Molly said, picking Lucas up and placing him on her lap as she sat down.

Dave sent off the message and took his seat before speaking. “Fortunately, we have made some additional advances since you last needed our services, and I don’t foresee any major issues this time around.”

Both adults showed the relief in their faces. Lucas’ diagnosis had come during the middle of pregnancy, and as a result the gene therapy had been more complicated due to the differentiated tissues. By starting the process before implantation, they could minimize, or utterly avoid the need to correct the dystrophin gene.

“I’d recommend going with selective in vitro fertilization this time around. It’s a bit more involved than the more…traditional ways of starting a pregnancy, but it will allow us to either avoid having the mutation in the first place, or more easily be able to correct it.” He explained, once again handing over several information sheets, and detailing the various procedures involved.

“The first thing that we’ll want to do is a full physical for the two of you before we start the ovarian stimulation treatments.” He made a few notes for the couple, and checked the Centre’s schedule. “Did you want to have Dr. Willows as your primary physician again?”

“If that’s possible, yes.” Molly replied, looking over at her husband as she did, reaching over and taking his paw in her own. “She was so helpful when we found out about Lucas’ condition.”

“Everyone here was.” Thomas added, then somewhat sheepishly continued “Actually, we’re sorry that it never occurred to us to fill you in about how things were going. You all did so much to help us throughout the ordeal, and we kinda forgot about it afterwards.”

Dave gave a small laugh at that “It’s pretty normal for most mammals to want to get this place out of mind fairly quickly…even when things work out.” He shrugged, “We’re pretty used to it, but I’m very happy that you came by.”

Looking back to the schedule he continued, “So would next Tuesday work for the two of you? Provided that we don’t find anything untowards in the physicals, we should be able to start the controlled ovarian hyperstimulation within a few weeks.”

“That quickly?” Molly asked “We thought this might take months.”

“Well the total process will take about 6 to 8 weeks, depending on how you respond to the treatments, but yes, if all goes well, I’d guess less than 2 months in total before we can progress to implantation.” He answered, then quickly added “Unless you’d like some more time to consider things.”

“Oh no, we’re both ready to move forward. We just didn’t know it could come together so quickly.” The lioness said with a smile on her muzzle. “Can we get a morning appointment?”

“I’ll book you in for 10AM, if that works.” Dave made the entry when the lioness nodded her head, while the tiger entered the information into his smart phone.

Dave checked his watch and waited until Thomas was done before speaking again, “And now, if you would be so good to follow me, there are some mammals who would very much like to see all three of you again.”

* * *

 

Before leaving the conference room, Dave had taken the opportunity to retrieve a ProtPop from one of the cupboards towards the back of the room. They rarely had need of the sweets at the Centre, but there was a time honored tradition involving cubs and doctors that was inviolate in his mind. As most feline species had only a limited ability to detect the sugar in more traditional sweets, a variety of species-specific confections was always at hand to fulfil this ancient pact.

The tigon cub was enthusiastically working on the treat as he led the family to the boardroom. He saw Laura’s back through the open door, and he motioned for the Fangwells to move closer to the wall to stay out of sight for the moment. Their grins gave showing that they understood his plan.

Upon entering the room, he was glad to see that all of the mammals included in his message had managed to arrive. Doug, Cat, and Laura were mingling near the head of the table, while Grant, Mina and Sara were already seated.  

It was Grant who first noticed his entrance, and his ears lifted up as curiosity was plainly visible in his face, “Dave what’s going on? You just said to meet you here, and nothing else.”

The other mammals in the room turned to face him as one, and he could feel the intensity of their gazes as a physical thing.

“This had better be good Dave.” Laura stated, moving to take a seat before continuing, “I still have some couples to see.”

“I think you’ll forgive me for this one Laura.” Dave said, leaning back out of the door and making a beckoning motion with his paw. “We had an unscheduled consultation that I’m sure you all be happy to see.”

The family entered into the room with Lucas in front, still enthralled with his treat. Catherine was the first to recognize the couple and bolted to her feet, with both paws covering her muzzle in surprise.

“Oh my goodness, Molly!” The jaguar stated with unbridled joy in her voice. Rushing around the table, she paused when she reached the family, not quite sure how to proceed. The lioness gave a shake of her head, and a small laugh as she gathered the smaller feline into an embrace.

“It’s good to see you Dr. Willows.” Tom said, as the jaguar and lioness released their hold on each other. Cat immediately moved to repeat the gesture with the tiger before kneeling down in front of the cub, who was looking on at the odd collection of mammals with unconcealed curiosity...but also some trepidation as he once again gripped onto the hem of his mother’s skirt.

The warmth on the jaguar’s face was all too real as she softly addressed him, “And you must be Lucas.” She offered her paw to the cub. “You won’t remember me, but I’m Dr. Willows, and I was there when you were born.” She looked the cub over from ear tips to toes, “Just look at how big you are. When I last saw you, you could fit in one of my paws.”

Dave looked around the room, and saw that there were more than a couple of mammals surreptitiously rubbing their eyes at the sight. Victories were few and far between for the staff, and seeing one of them; alive, healthy, and happy was nothing short of miraculous. Even Laura and Doug were smiling at the reunion, with the old buck and ferret utterly failing to hide their own tears of joy.

For once the Centre was filled with laughter, as memories were shared, and the events of the past five years filled in for the staff.

In the end, reality needed to reassert itself, but not before memories were made, and a new photo was added to the walls of the Centre. In it, the staff stood around the Fangwells, with Lucas perched on Catherine's shoulders; caught in mid laugh, his smile giving form to the value of their work.

* * *

 

The wolf sat in the exam room as she waited for Dr. Walfin to arrive. She had managed to get an appointment for late in the afternoon, but her workday had been thrown into chaos prior to that. After dropping Tommy off at the metro office, she had made her way to Zootopia Fire Station #34, hoping to be able to make it through the day without a repeat of last night’s symptoms.

It had been wishful thinking.

She had been lucky, truth be told. The first bout of nausea had hit as she was returning from a false alarm with the rest of Pumper #2, when she had been forced to pull the truck over and lean out of the window as she wretched bile onto the pavement. Her crew’s concern was evident on their faces, as they checked her over when she had recovered. Tyler, another wolf with auburn fur, had taken over the task of driving them back to the station while she sat in the passenger seat; a nagging vestige of unease accompanying her the whole way.

The chief had placed her on desk duty for the rest of the day, once she had assured him that she already had an appointment booked with her physician. Although she had thrown up twice more at the station, there was only a slight twinge of pain accompanying both episodes.

Francine, an older moose at the station, had been the first to joke about her being pregnant, which had elicited some uncomfortable laughter. All her colleagues knew that she was married to Tommy, and that they couldn’t have children together, but the thought sent a spike a fear through her.

 _“What if it’s true? What if i am pregnant? What if there’s something wrong?”_ The thoughts had run through her mind in an endlessly spiraling vortex, and she couldn’t quiet them, despite her best efforts to lose herself in the endless reams of paperwork.

She was jolted from her thoughts by a knock on the door, which opened to admit the arctic fox physician. “Hello Janet.” She had begun as soon as they’re eyes met “What seems to be the problem today?”

“I’m not sure really Doc.” Janet replied before going into detail about the events of the past couple of days. When describing the nausea, Dr. Walfin just nodded and made some notes on her chart. When she described the pain from last night, she stopped and looked at Janet more closely.

“You’re still together with Tommy, correct?” She had asked while motioning for Janet to lay down on the examination table.

She had nodded as the doctor began pressing on her abdomen. “Do you feel any pain when I press here?” The fox asked, and Janet shook her head. The doctor shifted her paw and pressed again, and a sharp pain radiated through her midsection.

Her intake of breath had been all the confirmation the fox needed, as she once again moved her paws, and proceeded to map out the areas in question. When she finished, she motioned for Janet to sit up.

“Have you had any other partners recently?” She asked, and Janet couldn’t help but laugh.

“Doc, Tommy’s been my _only_ partner...as in ever.” She replied shaking her head. “There’s never been anyone else, let alone recently.”

The doctor frowned as she made several more notes. “I’m going to send you downstairs for a few tests, and I’ll put a rush on them.”

She handed over the paper slip to the wolf. “I’ll call you tonight with the results, but you may need to head over to Zootopia General for a consult.” The doctor added, although mentally her thoughts were going down a different path. “ _No signs of a cyst, and obvious tenderness in both of the uterine horns...but it can’t be real.”_

Unfortunately, the remaining possibilities were far more serious to consider, and the doctor was quietly hopeful for her instincts to be right. During the exam, she had detected a unique odor emanating from her patient, but with a fox as a husband, it shouldn’t have been possible.

The tests would either confirm her suspicions, or direct her towards one of those other options. For now she worked to project confidence at the wolf as she escorted her out of her office.

Returning to her desk, she started to compose a text to an old friend, but paused before sending it. _“No”_ she thought _“I’ll wait until the test results come back. No need to get anyone worked up for now.”_

She made a few final notes in Janet’s chart and walked back to the reception area to grab the next patient’s chart. It would be a few hours yet before the results were known, and she had other mammals to care for in the meantime.

* * *

 

End Notes:

We’re back with the usual musings ramblings and general science stuff. Once again, if you are unclear about any aspect of the story, or the underlying science, either leave a comment, or send me a PM. I’ll try to answer as soon as I can. As always, I can’t promise to be able to answer everything, but I will make an attempt. If I do reply with, “let me look into it” don’t let me off the hook on that one. It’s something that scientists use when lecturing...and then usually forget about ;-)

Before I go into the more specific science time, I wanted to go over some additional musings that I’ve had over the past few months regarding science in Zootopia. Today I’m just going to cover genomic research, but I intend on covering other topics such as public health, drug development, and bioethics.

To put it bluntly, a lot of the procedures that we use for scientific discovery would run into considerable roadblocks in Zootopian society, and I’ve spent some evenings jotting down the ways that things might have differed.

With regards to genomic research, I’m increasingly of the mind that a society like Zootopia would have access to a great deal more genetic information than what we possess, simply out of necessity. There are probably hundreds of sentient species (if not thousands) and there would be a very real need to have reference genomes for all of these. As with our our own genome project, the results from this kind of research would help in the diagnosis and treatment of quite a few conditions, and represents a functional baseline for pure research to build upon.

Here’s where we run into a problem. To date, we’ve only sequenced the genomes of <50 mammalian species...that’s really it. Now we’ve often times sequenced multiple individuals within each species, particularly the ones where there is an economic interest involved (think animals used in agriculture), but overall we really have only scratched the surface of the mammalian diversity that’s out there.

...and we’ve invested hundreds of billions of dollars to do so.

In fact, the overwhelming majority of that money has gone towards researching one mammalian genome, _Homo sapiens_ (Humans).

I hope you’re starting to see the issue as it relates to Zootopia.

We’ve invested billions of dollars, as well as work hours towards understanding a single species...and a much smaller fraction towards understanding other species. As a result, we have made INCREDIBLE advances in the intervening decades, but as I wrote earlier, we still don’t have a complete picture of what makes us tick biochemically. There are still thousands of proteins contained in our genome that we have no idea what their function is, and that’s when we’ve focused very hard on one species.

In Zootopia we’ve seen that resources are finite; have and have-nots exist. We don’t have specific details on the economics...or even real demographic numbers, but the fact remains that the ability of researchers to focus their efforts on any single species is far less than what we can get away with.

In my mind this would lead to an issue of “Jack of all Trades, Master of None”, where the amount of genetic information available in Zootopia would be much greater than our own, but their understanding of that information would, at best, be on par with our own, but more likely significantly behind our level of understanding.

How could this be overcome? Well things get messy here, as there are 3 ways that they could deal with this.

  1. More money directed to basic research. Yes, as always this is the easiest solution. Fund more projects, generate more data, and work to increase the scale of research.
  2. In combination with #1, have more mammals enter into scientific research. Just throwing money at the problem won’t solve anything unless there are sufficient bodies to perform the research. By increasing the number of scientists, the amount of research done will also increase, but as with money, there are limits as to what you can achieve.
  3. Which brings us to #3, focusing resources on specific demographics. This is one that plays into the species dynamics of Zootopia. In a world of finite resources, prioritizing research would be key to discovering and applying new findings. Let’s start with the basics, 90% of the population is prey, and only 10% predator. Already this means that almost all the resources could be (in some ways justifiably directed away from an entire Class of mammals). Then within each group, sub-populations would vie for an increasingly small piece of the pie, and it’s quite likely that species with lower social standing (eg Foxes or Raccoons) would be even further marginalized.



Yes, the racial (species) tensions from the movie could well be influencing things in research as well...in fact from experience, I can guarantee that that they would be. Part of the narrative of LC&BD that I haven’t covered directly is that, without the Honeywell Centre, species like foxes, ferrets, and other small predators would have a very small resource focus, and have almost no diagnostic research done, even if their genomes were sequenced.

Quite frankly, the work done by the Centre might represent the sum total of all research for several species. This was the reasoning behind my inclusion of open consultations being a thing for the Centre. They have the resources to work on aspects that others don’t...or that they wouldn’t want to research in the first place.

Not a happy thought, but one that’s far too close to the marginalization we’ve seen in our own history.

* * *

Anyways, I’ll cut things off here, and move into the usual **SCIENCE TIME!**

 **Protein Nomenclature:** When we want to describe a location in the protein, it’s not uncommon for scientists to use the term N or C terminus. This relates to the start and end of the amino acid sequence, respectively. The reason for this is that all proteins are composed of amino acids, which have 3 parts to them, an amino group (N), a functional group (R), and a carboxyl group (C). Each amino acid is added to the chan in the same direction, so you end up with a series of C-N group linkages (amide or peptide bond), with the R groups reaching out away from the backbone. The sequence of the amino acids is called the primary structure. Above this is the secondary structure, which is determined by the various charges and sizes of the R groups in each amino acid. Tertiary structure is generally the folds and changes that are made by outside factors, namely other proteins called chaperones. Finally quaternary structure is what you get when proteins interact with each other in order to function.  

 **NiemannPick Sterol Transporters (AKA Niemann-Pick, NPC1 and NPC2...in humans):** Interestingly, this gene is HUGE from a genomic perspective (over 75,000bp), but fairly normal from a protein perspective (~1300aa). It has a large number of introns (areas that are removed to make the mRNA strand), and encodes a sterol transporter. Think of it as a gateway that rests in the internal membranes of you cells. It interacts with certain sterol molecules like cholesterol and moves them from one compartment into another (particularly from the lysozome).

When mutated, the ability of the protein to either recognize, or transport its target is impaired, and as a result, sphingomyelin accumulates in certain cells in the body. These include the ones in the liver, spleen, central nervous system and even some bone tissue.

Although there is no direct treatment for this disease, there are several gene therapies undergoing preclinical testing. As it can be managed to some degree, it’s nowhere near the same level of priority as with other genes.

 **Menkes Syndrome:** As with the Niemann-Pick disease, this affects a cellular transporter (ATP7A), but one that controls the import of copper into the body. It’s expressed in almost every tissue in the body, with the exception of the liver. In the digestive tract, it regulates the absorption of copper from food, while in other cells it serves to import commer in the cells as well as regulate its movement from the golgi to the cellular membrane.

We don’t often think of copper as a nutrient required for our health, but it is involved in some of the most essential enzymes in our bodies. Key among these are the Cytochrome c Oxidase proteins found in the mitochondria. They play an essential role in maintaining the proton gradient (concentration difference of hydrogen ions), which is required for the synthesis of ATP, the base unit of energy of our metabolism.

There are many such trace micronutrients that are needed to varying degrees by our bodies, and the important thing to note is that, most of the time, a specialized protein is required import each one, to say nothing of the various transport requirements and their eventual incorporation into cellular components.

When you break even one link in the chain, the effects can be profound. Menkes syndrome is generally fatal within the first year.

 **The Cabbit:** OK, this one I put in for laughs. If you look online for this cryptid you’ll see multiple pages and videos showing what are purportedly the offspring of a mating between a rabbit and a cat. The kittens shown, generally have short tails, and long hind limbs for their size, thus resulting in a hopping gait.

...and yes, some people appear to believe that they are real hybrids. I participated with an online “discussion” with someone a while back who tried to use it as an example of why evolution was false.

The reality is much more mundane, and probably relate back to the writings of Joseph Train during his travels on the Isle of Mann in 1845. He was the first to hypothesize that the population of Manx cats were a hybrid species, and the story kind of took off from there. Genetic studies on the Manx breed identified that they are not hybrids, and instead have a mutation in an as of yet unidentified gene (the Manx Genome Project just started last year), which controls tail length, and is thought to be related to the same gene involved in the American Bobcat and Lynx tail phenotypes.

Long story short, they’re cats with a dominant mutation in a key regulatory gene.

Sorry everyone, remember what I wrote earlier, Carnivora and Rodentia split off over 40 million years ago. They’re genomes are just too different for hybrids to be a possibility. I will be going into what kind of modifications would need to be done to make such hybrids work, but as so much of it is science fiction right now, I’m hesitant to put down anything concrete.

 **The Cama:** Yes, these exist. Yes, they are cute. Yes, they are rare. They were originally crossbred for wool production (increase it from the llama), and to improve the disposition of the species. The individuals produced to date have all be achieved through artificial insemination, and the experiment has mostly been a success, with one major caveat. Namely that no cama has successfully bred with either parental species.

As this hybrid is still very new, it’s not known if this is due to the crossbreed being sterile, or just not compatible with the parental lineages (but could breed with another cama).

 **Cats and Sugar:** This is completely true. Felines are almost unique among mammals in that they either can’t or are severely deficient in their ability to detect sugar in food. This related to the mutation of the Tas1R2 protein, which is part of the sweet taste receptor. Mutations in this gene are seen in some other species of carnivores, but it’s ubiquitous in felines (Jiang et al., 2012). As an obligate carnivore, losing the ability to taste sweet things, isn’t a big loss. There really aren’t many places in the body where carbohydrates are concentrated in high enough levels that they would affect the flavor of something (generally converted into fat for storage), and the cats are interested in other signals to indicate what they eat.

Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean that they dislike sweet things, it just means that they’re utterly indifferent about the sweetness of an item of food. Cats will still be more than happy to eat ice cream...heck any cream, but it’s not because of the sweetness, it’s because of the fat and protein.   

So to sum things up, cats are weird. I say this as the co-habitor and servant of 2 of them.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, that should do it for another chapter. I hope that you enjoyed the content here, and I’ll try to get the next one up within 2 weeks.
> 
> As always, please leave a review, comment, or question, and I will try to respond.
> 
> My continued thanks to everyone for sticking with this story as it develops, and again a big thanks to WildeHopps for the cameo appearance, and to WildeNick for editing this chapter.
> 
> As a final thought, as I close my browser tabs used for this Chapter, I couldn’t help but laugh when the question, “I wonder how many authors have multiple NCBI pages open when they write?” popped into my head. 
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Eng050599
> 
> P.S. My apologies to any readers of Scottish descent. I tried to get the phonetics right for the accent, but it’s been a long time since my Grandmother and her companion from Glasgow graced my ears with a tale.


	7. Chapter 7: Probability and Premonitions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was an eventful couple of weeks I'd say. I'll save my commentary for the end of the chapter, but I would just like to state one thing beforehand. Regardless of where you live, and what your political affiliations are, do not give into hate and fear. Try to build, not tear down, and that we are ALL stronger together than when divided.
> 
> First of all, thank you to WildeNick for helping to edit this beast again. I swear I'm not trying to make these chapters crack 10K words, but it just seems to happen…and I even cut out one scene due to pacing issues (Chapter 8 will begin with it instead).
> 
> Also, thanks for the call out in the latest chapter as well. It's been a pleasure to assist you in your writings as well.
> 
> For those interested in another fanfic that goes outside the usual Zootopia mould, I highly recommend his story Three Months a Fox. It covers the period between the press conference and Judy's return to the city. It showcases Nick's emotional and mental state as the situation for predators becomes more serious.
> 
> Lost Causes & Broken Dreams has had a bit more exposure in the past few weeks. Starting with the cameo appearances of Dave, Carol, Grant and the Centre in Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps' "One Hundred Kisses", and last week with the inclusion of LC&BD in Zootopia News Network's fanfiction listings, there have been quite a few new readers as a result.
> 
> I'm particularly grateful to Berserker88 for including a disclaimer about the tone of the story. The last thing I'd want to do is try and hide the fact that, at times, this story is emotionally very difficult to deal with.
> 
> To those of you who have come to the story from these venues, thank you for giving it a chance, and I hope it continues to maintain a high level of quality and engagement…even if tissues may be required on occasion.
> 
> Now to thank those readers who left a comment or review:
> 
> From FF:
> 
> WildeHopps: As always it's great to hear your thoughts on the latest chapters. Thank you for your help with the current one as well. That scene benefited greatly from your input (no I'm not going to spoil which one).
> 
> LawOfSynergy: Thanks for taking the time to read the story. I hope that Chapter 7 meets your expectations, and I look forward to hearing what you think.
> 
> SrCheese: I promise I will get around to replying to your PM. It's been a busy week, but I think you for your input, and I hope that you'll continue to enjoy the story.
> 
> Hianna Sabo: I'm glad you've enjoyed the story so far. I hope that there won't be as much of delay for the next chapter, and that you enjoy the current one.
> 
> Rylovix: I can't promise to have Chapter 8 out as quickly as this one (from a relativistic perspective), but I have every intention of seeing this tale through. Thanks for reading.
> 
> From AO3:
> 
> wheresthecoffee: I thank you for breaking your silence regarding comments, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the story so far. I hope I was able to answer your questions in the discussion thread, and remember what I wrote then and in this chapter. Don't give in to hate and fear.
> 
> Michael: I hope that I was able to clear thing up regarding the chloride transporter in CF for you, and like with wheresthecoffee, don't give into despair.
> 
> Kittah4: I very much value the comments that you made in regards to my writing style. You indicated that you don't write professionally, but your experience in this medium is far greater than my own. I thank you for your insights into this style of writing, and I have tried to incorporate some of it into this chapter. As to whether I succeeded, I'll just have to hope and see.
> 
> Once again, please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question regarding this chapter, or any of the previous ones. I'll try to answer each on ASAP.
> 
> For now though, it's on with the show.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Probability and Premonitions**

The brief respite offered by the Fangwell's visit couldn't last forever, but every mammal left the boardroom with the sense of purpose and joy that was a commodity so rarely had at the Centre. Seeing the evidence that their work manifest in a living, breathing cub, even if his parents were from compatible species, was a breath of fresh air and vindication for all concerned.

The family departed after a quick photo, but not before Laura took one more chance to hug the small tigon cub, Lucas. She had been the primary physician for the family, and had been the most relieved and joyous to have seen the cub doing so well.

Leaving her and the Fangwells, Dave checked the time, and seeing how it was only 3:20, he took a moment to flag down Doug before heading back to his responsibilities.

"Doug, would you mind if I went down to the lab for a bit?" He asked the older rabbit as they walked back into the Centre with the rest of the staff. "I really need to start sectioning the tissue from yesterday, but if you need me to help finish the remaining consults, I understand."

"Trying to shirk off you duties, Dr. Hawthorne?" The buck gave a small laugh at the comment. Shaking his head, he continued "I think you've earned a bit of a break Dave." He said, looking up at the white wolf. "There's only 2 consults left for the day. Laura and I can wrap things up here."

He motioned towards the back of the Centre and made a shooing motion with his paw, "You try and get caught up on things down in the lab. Oh, and remind Donny about Ms. Lupercal's committee meeting this Friday. She needs to start thinking about her comprehensive exam." The rabbit cocked his brown ears towards Dave. There was an odd twinkle in his eyes as he spoke. "Would you be willing to sit on the committee this time around?"

Dave shook his head at the notion, "I'm too close to be the external examiner, and my position here isn't considered part of the faculty at either ZU or Zootopia General." He replied. The examination committee was almost always composed of 3 ZU faculty members and an external member, who came from outside the institution, and acted as an impartial judge with no ties to the candidate. Due to his work with Abby, Dave lacked the impartiality to fulfill this role.

The old buck had a wry smile on his muzzle, "That's what assistant professorships were made for." Dave cocked his head slightly at the notion, but Doug continued on, "The board discussed it last month, and our conversation from yesterday put the need for it into focus. Both you and Jim are overdue for some teaching responsibilities, and this way we can kill 2 birds with one stone."

He paused and smiled at the shocked expression on Dave's face. "You'll both be listed as non-tenure track assistant professors with Zootopia University's Department of Medicine, cross appointed to the Department of Biology." The rabbit gave a wave of his brown paw in a dismissive gesture. "The positions are more like adjunct faculty though, and the titles don't come with any extra salary. In fact the Centre will basically be covering your overhead costs, but you won't have any administrative or undergrad teaching duties, _for now_. Effectively, you'll be in the same boat as Laura, Genevieve, and I."

The rabbit frowned as another thought occurred to him. "We _were_ going to include Dr. Kent as well, but that's off the table now. Indefinitely." Giving himself a shake, he continued on. "Regardless, what you will be able to do is officially mentor grad students, which we need to start recruiting more earnestly. Having both you and Jim will broaden the research fields that we can cover."

Dave hadn't considered the possibility, but it made sense. Out of the entire staff, only Dr. Widelhorn was considered full faculty at ZU. Right now, the bison was the only staff member with a graduate student, the ever overworked Abbigail Lupercal, but both Doug, Genevieve and Laura had managed to take on students in the past without much incident.

"Can I have a chance to think it over Doug?" Dave asked, mentally not quite sure if he felt ready to take on even more responsibility.

The rabbit shook his head and started to walk towards the stairs. Calling back over his shoulder, he said, "No, you and Jim said it yesterday; we need fresh blood in here. Congratulations Professor Hawthorne!" He said with mock enthusiasm. "I'll leave the paperwork on your desk. The committee meeting is at 9 on Friday."

The rabbit disappeared into the stairwell, and Dave was left with both a new title, and a sense of dread. Movement from the stairwell caught his attention as he saw Doug lean back out of the doorway and look towards him.

"By the way Dave, the due date for letters of intent to apply for ZIH Discovery Grants is in 3 weeks. You can use the main genomics account for matching funds if required, but I'll expect a draft proposal from you by Monday." Doug gave him a rather malicious smile and wave before heading up the stairs. Dave's ears couldn't help but notice the echoing laughter that followed.

"Well shit!" Was all he could say; throwing up his paws in defeat. "Did I just get voluntold?" Shaking his head at the implausibility, he couldn't help but laugh at his predicament.

" _Who gets voluntold into a professorship?"_ He thought as he jogged towards the elevator. The lab was his only hope for refuge before life threw another curveball his way.

* * *

Dave showered and donned the required protective gear before entering the lab. Much like the clinical section of the Centre, the lab was bustling with activity when he entered. It looked as though almost the entire research staff was present. As usual, Beth was the first to note his arrival.

"Afternoon Dave! Are you all done with the consults?" The mouse asked from her desk situated at the corner of one of the lab benches. Dave noticed that the comically large screen was showing a light microscope image of a hepatocyte liver cell. This one had been frozen in time at metaphase, the point during the cell's replication when the chromosomes condensed and began to align for division among the two daughter cells.

"All done for the day, so I figured it was time to start chipping away on the backlog down here." Looking at the screen, he made note of the chromosomes that Beth was working to pair up. "Working up a karyotype Beth?" He asked looking over the chromatin and noticing an oddity. There were 19 pairs, which meant that there was still a range of mammals it could have come from, but in the case of 2 of the pairs, there were 3 copies of each, instead of the usual 2.

"Yes, this is preliminary screen from Ms. White's fetus." The mouse was making some notes in her lab book. "It looks like a case of trisomy of chromosomes A3 and D1, but there's also something wrong with the short arm of A1." She moved the mouse pointer over to the chromosome in question, and Dave saw what she was speaking about. In felines, the A1 chromosome was normally submetacentric in appearance, with one chromosome arm being much shorter than the other, separated by the centromere. This chromosome though had the centromere at the extreme end of the chromosome, and the entire short arm was either missing or reduced.

"What do you think Beth? Recombination error, or simple deletion?" Dave asked while looking over the other chromatin; trying to see any other obvious signs of change from the norm.

"My money's on a recombination event, but I'll need to probe the sequence to try and see where it landed." She shook her head sadly. "The trisomy on the other two chromosomes was enough to cause the deformations that were observed. This is more of a curiosity than an underlying cause for the loss."

"It all tells us something Beth. We just have to keep looking until it tells us something we can use." He said moving away from the diminutive scientist. The mouse nodded, not looking away from the screen as she changed the image displayed, and another histological prep was brought into focus. This time Dave recognized it as cardiac muscle, and he left Beth to her work as she scoured the images for other cells that had been frozen during cell division.

When he reached his bench, he was somewhat surprised to see it occupied. Although he couldn't make out whom it was visually, his nose told him that the other wolf in the Centre was encroaching on his territory…not that he minded in this instance. Without Abby, he would be so far behind on his lab work he'd never be able to catch up.

"Mind if I squeeze in Abby?" He asked jovially, taking some satisfaction at seeing her start in surprise.

"Damn it Dave! Don't scare me like that." She replied turning to face him, her eyes showing an underlying annoyance.

The poor wolf had a history of being slightly less than perceptive about her surroundings, and most of the research staff had taken to pointing this out to her whenever possible. Her dedication and focus was admirable, but when working in a lab, one needed to be aware of all the various hazards; both yours and your co-workers.

…the lesson hadn't sunk in as of yet and Dave couldn't help but have a chuckle at the smaller wolf's annoyance. "Sorry Abby, but I wasn't trying to sneak up on you." Looking over to the materials that she had been working on, he noticed the tissue samples he had collected yesterday had already been encased in paraffin and were ready to be sectioned and his eyes widened in surprise to see that ALL of the samples had been prepped.

"Abby, you didn't need to prep all of them." He said looking over the small translucent cubes. "Just one or two of each tissue type would have been enough.

"I know, but it's easier to just do the whole batch, and then we can store the rest pretty much indefinitely without needing to keep them in ethanol." The wolf checked her notes before continuing "And I didn't finish all of them, Beth took care of some of them earlier. Also, the castor bone samples as well as some of the feline ones needed to be decalcified." She motioned with her paw to a collection of 6 tubes sitting in a nearby fume hood. "Donny noticed that you started the fast fixation, but didn't have a chance to finish it, so I stepped in." She paused slightly, and gave a furtive glance around the lab before continuing on in a quieter voice, "After we heard about what happened yesterday, it was the least we could do."

Her nervousness didn't abate and she kept scanning the visible portion of the lab with her eyes, "Dave, is it true that Dr. Kent's being banished down here? He hasn't been in all day, but Laura was down earlier and mentioned that he was being limited to lab duties for a while."

Dave nodded but cocked his head when he detected a change in Abby's scent. His eyes widened slightly when he realized that she was afraid. "That's right, Doug doesn't want him interacting with patients for at least a month." Dave paused and reached out to grasp the other wolf's shoulder. "Abby what's going on?"

"He gives me the creeps." She said rubbing her paws up and down her arms as if she was cold.

Dave's eyes hardened as his mind catalogued the various transgressions that Jason could have done to earn him such a response. Abby must have seen the look, or smelled his own reaction, and she shook her head to forestall this train of thought.

"Nothing like that Dave." She said waving her paws in front of her "Goddesses know, I'd consider that to be more normal. No, he just acts like Arnold, Francis and I don't even exist." She paused and seemed deep in thought before she continued, but Dave did note that she had included technical staff in her list, not the research scientists.

Giving herself a small shake, she looked back at Dave. "When you, Jim, or Laura are down here, you talk; you joke…well sometimes anyways. With Dr. Kent, it's the occasional request, but aside from that, nothing. When we try to engage him, it's usually some monosyllabic response and a dismissive wave of his hoof. I've been here for a year now, and I still don't know anything about him."

Dave had to give a little chuckle at that revelation, but he was glad that his instincts had proven wrong in this instance, "It probably won't make you feel any better Abby, but I've known him for six years, and I hardly know anything about him outside of his work here." He made a motion back towards the front of the Centre with his paw. "Aside from the fact that he drives that _obviously-compensating-for-something_ Furari, I have no idea what makes him tick."

Abby laughed and the comment and the mood seemed to lighten somewhat as a result. "I'll just work off the hypothesis that he's an ass then." She said, and Dave nodded in agreement.

The larger wolf then clapped his paws together and rubbed them enthusiastically. "Now then, you've got the tissue prepped; let's see who's better at sectioning it."

He couldn't see her muzzle through her mask, but the wrinkles around her eyes told him that she was smiling under it. "Ha! You've been effectively AWOL from the lab for so long; I don't think you've got a chance old wolf."

There was a deep laugh from across the lab and both Abby and Dave looked up to see Donny and Genevieve making their way from the microscopy lab. The pair made for an interesting contrast. The older bison's horns almost reached the ceiling, while the much smaller red fox could just barely be seen behind the intervening lab benches.

Donny was a genomics specialist like Dave, but he had more experience on the computational side of the table. He was their defacto bioinformticion, and seemed to enjoy the mix of wet lab and programming that his position offered. Most of the assembly and analysis algorithms used by the staff when dealing with the sequencing data were the product of his hooves.

Genevieve on the other paw was a pure wet lab researcher and focused on cytology, the study of cell structure chemistry and function. She normally paired up with Beth on their various projects, and while Dr. Birsby focused on the chromatin, Dr. Falsale was interested in changes in the other organelles.

"Be careful Abby, Dave's no slouch when it comes to prepping slides." The fox added while walking over to her lab bench and using the built in step to reach a more comfortable working position. "Hey Elizabeth, what do you think? I've got a 10 spot that says Abby's chain breaks before Dave's"

"No way, he's lost his touch." The mouse called from the front of the lab. "The last time I saw him sectioning tissue, the ribbons were less than a foot long. I'm in for Abby."

"Et tu, Beth?" Dave replied with mock indignation before looking towards Arnold Higgens who had made his way back to the group. The hippo already had two $10 bills in his hoof, and placed it on the lab bench in front of Abby.

"Both Francis and I are going with Ms. Lupercal." Arnold said looking over at Dave and giving him an amused smile behind his mask. "You've been falling behind the curve down here Dave. Don't think we haven't noticed."

The hippo motioned back over his shoulder towards the flow cytometry room, where Dave could see the face of Francis Stoat, the dark brown mink technician who manned the equipment there. The mink gave a shrug and mouthed " _Sorry"_ towards Dave before ducking back into the adjacent room.

"Seriously, you're betting against the only one here with a surgical background as not having the steadier paws?" Dave shook his head and looked back to Abby "Sorry Abby, but my professional pride and ego has been placed on the line now. You're going down."

Dave looked over to Donny, who had yet to voice his opinion on the betting pool. "What's it going to be Dr. Widelhorn?"

A rumbling laugh came from the bison as he shook his head in response. "I can't bet against my student Dave." Looking over at Abby, he spoke to her with a distinct mock seriousness. "Don't disappoint me, or you'll be cleaning dishes for a month."

Abby gave a laugh at the threat "I already do most of the dishes here Donny. That's an idle threat if ever I heard one." Looking over at Dave she grabbed one of the paraffin blocks and held it out to him. "Let's do this Doc."

Dave took the sample and headed over to the microtomes on an adjacent lab bench and pulled open a drawer. He waved towards the contents with a flourish of his paw. "Choose your weapon M'Lady." He said motioning to the row of microtome knives.

Abby gave a snort of laughter before carefully selecting one of the long, wedge shaped, and wickedly sharp blades. Dave followed suit, and the two of them went about setting up their microtomes.

The devices were quite simple, and hadn't seen much in the way of change in over a century. Certainly they were more accurate than their predecessors, but the base design was the same. A clamp help the blade in a fixed position, while a sample arm moved the paraffin block up and down in time to the rotation of a hand crank. Each cycle moved the sample a miniscule distance forward until the blade made contact, and extremely thin sections were made.

Dave positioned the sample block, and set the cut thickness to 3 microns, just thick enough to be capable of making the sections 1 cell thick…and also making sure that each of the sections would be as light as possible.

Looking over at Abby's microtome, he saw that she too was going for extremely thin sections and part of him smiled. " _After all,"_ he thought, " _I taught her how to do this."_

When both of them were ready, Dave picked up a thin paintbrush, and started turning the wheel in a measured cadence.

This wasn't a race, and the real trick was being utterly consistent in your technique. As the knife sliced through the tissue, he used the paintbrush to gently lift the section away from the blade, but not fully removing it. When the next section was cut, it stuck to the edge of the first, and a ribbon began to form. The trick was to keep the ribbon as steady as possible, while constantly repositioning the growing strand so as to limit gravity's effect.

Dave kept his breathing steady as the ribbon grew centimetre by centimetre. He kept his focus only on the microtome in front of him as 2 sections grew to 10, then 20. Normally, he would have stopped here and repositioned the blade to ensure the cutting surface was fresh, but that wasn't an option this time. His left paw kept up the constant rhythm, while his right moved the ribbon further, and further away from the bench.

He was up to 38 sections when a growl beside him told him that the competition was over. Without breaking his own ribbon, he looked over to see Abby holding a limp string of sections, which had finally broken off from the microtome. It was an impressive length, probably the same as his, but his was still growing.

There was a general moan from behind them, along with a single cry of jubilation as Genevieve scooped up her winnings

"Sorry Abby, but this old wolf still has some tricks up his sleeve." He said, finally allowing the ribbon to break, as he then proceeded to separate it into more manageable lengths.

The other wolf gave a sigh before looking over at him, "I'll get started on those dishes now." She said with some dejection.

Dave shook his head at her comment, "No, you're right, I haven't been spending enough time down here, and that includes clean up duties, so your choice, dishes or keep sectioning the samples?"

She gave a snort of amusement "As if that's even a choice." Before turning back to the microtome and starting a new set of sections.

The other mammals in the lab gave a laugh at that, and Dave took a moment to catalogue the number of sections and their order in his notebook, before heading over to one of the sinks, and beginning to wash the various beakers and flasks that it contained.

It didn't take long, and he was back beside Abby within 15 minutes. While he was working on a section from the liver, he caught Donny's attention and the buffalo made his way over to the wolves.

"Doug wanted me to remind you about Abby's committee meeting on Friday." He said, noticing that Abby's head popped up at the sound of her name, a low moan escaping from her mouth.

"Not the comps already." She said with only a small bit of panic in her voice.

Dave had to laugh at this as he thought back to when he was in a similar situation. The comprehensive exam was perhaps the most stressful part of a doctoral degree. It was generally a pass/fail exam where the committee could ask you literally anything from within a very broad range of topics. At Zootopia University, it was broken into 2 parts; written and oral. In the former, the candidate generally had a week to write the equivalent of 4 term papers, one for each of their areas of focus…and that was generally the easy part.

The oral exam almost universally became the source of nightmares for decades to come. With no access to outside information the student would be grilled by their committee, potentially jumping from one subject to the next between breaths. The greatest irony for the student was that the better they did, the harder the questions became, and the further away from their field of research the committee would push. The goal was to see how far they could be pushed, and how easily they were able to think on the fly.

In his own examination, he should have known that he had aced it when one of the members of his committee asked " _How would you go about calculating the Schwarzschild radius for a star of a given mass."_ At the time however, he had almost broken down into tears, as it was a question he had no idea how to solve. Even 8 years later, the memory still gave him a chill.

It was brutal, stressful, and even cruel, but almost everyone who went through it, and passed, agreed that it was among the greatest achievements that they'd ever accomplished. Looking over to Abby, he could see the same expression in her eyes that he knew he had been in his when was faced with this trial.

Donny gave a low chuckle before speaking "I'm afraid so Abby. You need to have them done by your 6th term, and you're in term 4 currently."

He placed a hoof on her shoulder before continuing, "That's lots of time to prep…more than you need really. This meeting is just going to hash out the subjects you'll be expected to know." Looking down at Dave, the fur around Donny's eyes wrinkled in what Dave knew to be a large smile concealed by the muzzle mask.

"Will you be joining us on Friday Dave?" He asked, managing to almost hide his amusement at obviously already knowing the answer.

Dave let out a moan of his own at the revelation, "Of course you already know don't you?" He asked Donny, only then remembering that Dr. Widelhorn was also on the board of directors for the centre.

The bison gave another deep laugh at Dave's revelation, "Doug and I have been discussing something like this for a while now. We hadn't intended on putting you through it so soon, but the incident with Dr. Kent forced us to act." The bison reached over and put a hoof on Dave's shoulder, giving him a slight shake. "The board had a conference call first thing this morning, and from that point my friend, your fate was sealed."

The bison noticed the perplexed look on Abby's face, as she cocked her head to the side in an instinctive motion among canines. He removed his hoof from Dave's shoulder and with an overly dramatic flourish, he used both arms to motion towards Dave.

"Abby, allow me to introduce Assistant Professor David Hawthorne of Zootopia University. He's been so gracious as to agree to be on your examination committee and he will be joining us on Friday." The bison said loud enough for the rest of the lab to hear as well.

A bark of laughter arose from Genevieve's bench, and Dave looked over to see the fox struggling not to double over. She managed to compose herself before speaking, "Oh Dave, I wish I could see your face right now." She started to raise a paw to her face to wipe away a tear, but stopped herself remembering where she was.

Giving her head a shake she looked back at the trio. "It's not so bad. Grad students only age you about a decade each, and with your coloration, you won't even have to worry about going grey."

"You're not helping the situation Genevieve." Dave said as the rest of the lab joined in on the mirth. Only Abby was silent, and both Dave and Donnie returned their attention to the wolf.

"Look Abby, it's not going to be a fun time, but the comps aren't that bad in retrospect. I know you don't believe that now, and you probably won't until after you've passed the exam...and slept for a solid week." Dave said, trying to provide some comfort to her while not diminishing the importance of the exam. "You just need to show the committee that you know your stuff, and that you can think on your feet."

Abby didn't look comforted, but she nodded her head, and went back to sectioning the tissue. For her, lab work was as much an escape as it was a job. Dave and Donnie realized that any further discussion right now would only make her more nervous, so they both shrugged and went back to their own work.

Dave had hardly begun to section another piece of tissue when he heard Beth call out his name, "Dave, Carol's on line 2 for you."

Dave's ears perked up, or rather they tried to under the protective hood he wore. " _That's odd."_ He thought " _Normally she'd just leave a message for me if I don't answer."_

Him not picking up either meant that he was with a patient, or was down in the lab, where they were not permitted. Cell phones were nearly a petri plate on their own, collecting a whole host of microorganisms on their screens. They didn't need to come into contact with the chemicals and pathogens used down here.

He made his way to the conference room at the rear of the main lab, and picked up the phone, while punching the button for line 2. "Hi Hon! What's going on?"

"Hey Dave." He could hear that she was driving somewhere given the background noise. He checked the clock in the room and saw that it was just passed 5. "There was an accident out at ZFB Baden, out in the Meadowlands. I don't know what happened, but it sounds like there was at least one casualty. Captain Taft asked me to help out with a seminar while they deal with the situation."

She paused for a moment before continuing. "I'm sorry to do this to you, but I probably won't make it back until 8 or 8:30. Maybe me taking the car today wasn't such a good plan." She added giving a light laugh at the thought.

"Don't worry about it Carol. It's not that far from the Centre to home. I don't mind walking." He replied.

There was another pause on the other end of the line "Weeelll there is one other thing." Carol added, and Dave couldn't help but sigh as he recognized that tone of voice.

"What did you forget?" He asked, already running through the list of possibilities in his mind.

"It's not that bad, there's just some paperwork over at Precinct 1 that I really need before tomorrow. Any chance you could pop by and pick it up for me? Pretty please." She asked, taking on a faux begging tone.

She knew full well that he'd walk through Hell for her, and she'd do the same for him, but he couldn't help but laugh at her tone. "You know I'll do it hon. I'll clock out a bit early and head over there in a bit."

"Thanks Dave, just ask the officer at reception; it's usually a cheetah named Clawhauser who usually there during the day. He'll be able to point you in the right direction." She said with small amount of relief in her voice. "I'll see you at home tonight. Love you!"

"I love you too Carol. Bye!" He replied before hanging up the phone.

He couldn't leave the lab just yet, so he made his way back to Abby and the microtomes. He'd try to get through a few more samples today, but it would be the poor graduate student who would be stuck mounting them tonight. He did allow himself a bit of a smile though " _Rank hath its privileges."_ He mused as he prepared to give Abby something to think about aside from her comps.

* * *

It was just before 6 when he finally left the Centre. Abby had actually been happy to take over mounting the slides, as it also meant that she would have first dibs on them for downstream analysis.

The walk over to Precinct 1 wasn't a long one, and within 20 minutes, he was passing through the large glass doors. As Carol had predicted there was a…well… a rather obese cheetah sitting at the front desk, and even as Dave approached he saw the officer polish off a doughnut with two quick bites.

The cheetah looked up as Dave approached the desk, and smiled warmly, "Hello there, how can I help you." He asked, his mouth still working on the doughnut.

Dave offered his paw to the cheetah, "Hi. Are you Clawhauser?" He could see the nametag on the cheetah's breast, but it was more polite to phrase it as a question. "I'm Dave Hawthorne, Carol Latrans asked me to swing by and pick up some paperwork for her."

The big cat swallowed before continuing. "That's me, and Carol left a message a while back saying that you'd be by." He motioned over his shoulder towards the read of the precinct. "Officer Wolford has the files, I'll page him."

"Don't worry about that Clawhauser." A deep voice spoke from behind Dave. Turning around he saw the familiar form of Officer Delgato, this time in full uniform. "I'll take the Doc back to the gym." He added as he offered his paw to Dave.

"I really need to thank you for calling your sister Mark." Dave said as he took the lion's paw.

"She stopped by then?" He asked "She mentioned that they would try to head over today."

Dave nodded his head, with a very real smile on his muzzle. "That she did, and it really meant a lot to the staff, so thank you again."

Delgato waved off the comment "Don't worry about it Doc." He stopped and looked thoughtful for a moment "I don't suppose they asked about anything else?"

Dave shook his head and held up a paw at the question, "Sorry Mark, but I can't answer that one way or the other. I take doctor patient confidentiality very seriously, and if you want to know about this, you'll need to talk with your sister."

Delgato smirked slightly at this, but gave a short laugh regardless "That's fair Dave, but you can't blame a guy for trying." Motioning with his paw he started walking towards the rear of the precinct "Come on, the gym's this way, and I think you're going to like what's going on."

Dave cocked his head and his ears perked up in interest, "Oh, what's that?"

"Zephyr mentioned that you were there when Spitfire decided to pair him and Wilde together for some training. Well the first matchup is going on right now." He looked back over his shoulder at Dave as he spoke. "I think you and Carol might have spooked him a bit. He reeeeallly wanted to practice disarming techniques when he came in today."

Dave gave a real laugh at that. "I may have mentioned that Carol would be… _disappointed_ in him if he didn't have that manoeuvre perfected by Thursday."

"Ha! Figured it was something like that." Mark continued "Wolford just sent a text that they've moved past practicing, and are going for a full on sparring match." He gave a slight shake of his head "That kid doesn't know what he's gotten himself into."

Dave moved up so that he was walking beside the lion, "Is Wilde that good?" He asked. "Carol's mentioned him a few times at home or in the salle, but she's never really gone into too much detail."

Mark shrugged and replied "He's good…really good for his size, but I don't think "fighting fair" is in his vocabulary. That fox learned to fight on the streets, and it shows." The lion gave another bark of laughter as he continued "Then Spitfire came along and showed him how to be an even better dirty fighter. Zephyr doesn't have a chance."

Dave had to laugh at the notion as well. "I can see that happening very easily. Carol has no qualms about hitting below the belt, both metaphorically and literally." He added with a slight wince at the memory of just such an event. "If anything, that would make her like Wilde even more."

The two of them approached the double doors, just off of the main hallway running down the middle of the precinct. Dave was taken aback by the size of the facility as they walked through the door, and he never expected to find such a range of equipment and floor space dedicated to a single gym.

"Is something this big normal for the ZPD?" He asked taking in everything from the running track along the perimeter of the gymnasium to the collection of free weights for all sizes of mammal, and all the various accoutrements in between.

Delgato gave a slight shake of his head before replying "No Precinct 1 lucked out with this setup. Since we also act as central training hub, the designers gave us _way_ more toys to play with." He gave a slight laugh "Cops from other precincts sometimes give us a hard time about 'working out of a health spa', but they're just jealous, and we know it."

Dave's attention was drawn to the middle of the gym, where an open space had been padded with various floor mats, thus allowing for paw to paw training, as well as other aerobic activities to take place. The space was currently occupied by Zephyr, and an average sized fox facing off against each other, along with a contingent of ZPD officers either observing the match, or just egging the combatants on.

From all around the gym, calls of encouragement and derision could be heard.

"Come on Zephyr, knock that smug grin off his face!"

"Wilde, go easy on the kid, he knows not what he does!"

"Spots! I've got ten bucks on you. You lose, you're cleaning out cruisers for a week!"

Both mammals ignored the taunts, and focused solely on each other. Zephyr was bouncing slightly on his hind paws, always in motion, and, to Dave's eyes, taking on a very aggressive stance. He held his paws up in a high guard position, with clenched fists held close to his chest, his right slightly lower and angled across his chest. He was wary, but it was obvious that he would be the one to make the first move.

Wilde was a study in contrasts comparatively. His stance was relaxed overall, with both paws open and held a chest level along his midline. Dave recognized the variant and winced at what he knew was to come. Wilde was playing pure defence; he wanted Zephyr to come to him, and had left his head "unprotected" to draw him in.

Zephyr was waiting for a distraction before he moved in, and both fighters circled each other warily. When the distraction did come, it came in the form of a taunt from a rabbit on the side lines.

"Don't let him psych you Zephyr; just wipe the floor with him!"

Wilde stopped for a moment, and genuinely looked stunned. "Really Carrots? You're taking his side here?"

Dave easily recognized her from the various news reports…as well as the ZPD PSA billboards scattered around Savanah Central, however whatever reply Officer Hopps might have made was cut off by Zephyr immediately attacking. Pressing off with his right hind-paw he slid along the mat, covering about a meter in the blink of an eye. His left leg was already lifted and chambered into what would become a roundhouse kick to the fox's head, but this was exactly what the fox had been waiting for.

The distraction was a ruse, and the fox stepped towards Zephyr and inside the effective range of the kick. In doing so he jammed up the cheetah's leg while he used his smaller stature to quickly position his left leg behind the one supporting Zephyr, while grabbing onto his shirt and chambered leg with his paws. He rotated his hips and levered the cheetah into a modified hip throw, and made to follow the big cat down and go for some kind of a knee bar to force a submission from Jake.

The cat was quick though, and managed to escape from the grasping paws by rolling away before Wilde could do more than grasp a pawfull of sweatpants. Fortunately for the cheetah, the grip was not enough to work with, and he managed to create distance between the two…while also maintaining his dignity as the garment had only been pulled down by a few inches.

Both mammals got back to their feet quickly, and Zephyr made another mistake when he failed to recognize that Wilde had once again taken up a defensive posture. This time the cat feinted by chambering his left leg again. Making it seem as though he was trying the same attack for a second time. When Nick raised his right arm to block the blow, Jake instead moved to strike with a straight right cross to the fox's muzzle.

Once again, Nick had been waiting for it. His left paw snaked out and grabbed Zephyr's wrist while pulling and rotating his body clockwise. Just as he managed to unbalance the cheetah, he brought up his right paw and grasped onto Jake's, roughly pressing his digit into the pressure point between the cheetah's little and ring fingers and reversed the motion of the pull, while rotating Zephyr's arm up and counter clockwise.

The cheetah had little choice in the matter, and the conflicting motion caused him to flip head over heels. This time however, Nick maintained his grip on his opponent's arm. As soon as Zephyr hit the mat, he fox altered his grip so that the limb was now locked ramrod straight, his left paw just above the now hyperextended elbow joint, while Nick's right paw bent the cheetah's wrist over and he began to apply pressure.

The match was effectively over, but Zephyr didn't tap out right away, and instead tried to pull out of the hold. Even though he was almost twice Nick's size, muscles can only work when they have leverage, and the hyperextension of the joint made that impossible. If he had thought to try and sweep the fox's legs out from underneath him, it might have worked…and also could have broken his wrist.

Instead, Nick just delivered a modest stomp to Jake's right kidney to put things into perspective. The cheetah still struggled for a moment, and the fox applied more pressure to the bent wrist, as well as simultaneously digging his thumb claw into a second pressure point just above the big cat's elbow. Zephyr finally recognized the hopelessness of the situation and tapped on the mat with his free paw.

Nick immediately released his grip on the cheetah's wrist, but maintained his grip on the cat's forearm to help him to his feet.

The cheetah face was a mixture of anger and embarrassment, but he accepted the helping paw up with only a slight hesitation. Once they were both on the feet, the surrounding officers converged on the two to both congratulate, console, and tease with equal measure.

"Is that it?" Dave asked. He had expected the two to break off for another round, as the bout had lasted all of a minute.

Delgato nodded and was making his way into the small crowd, "This time around, yeah. The rules here are first to submission or knockout, and the loser buys the beer."

Dave winced at the thought. "You guys do know that getting knocked out is really bad from a medical perspective right?" He asked and held back from joining more fully with the group's festivities. He was an outsider here after all, and he didn't want to impose on their celebration. He did however catch Mark's gaze when he asked.

The lion gave a loud laugh, and a few of the other mammals looked over at the conversation. "Oh we know, but it comes with the territory. It only happens rarely, as we really try to focus on submission and control holds for arrests…except for Hopps of course." He added the last bit after turning to face the bunny, who had been in the midst of jabbing Wilde in the arm for some perceived slight.

"Hey Hopps, how many sparring partners have you laid out on the mat this month?" The lion asked in a teasing manner.

The rabbit rolled her eyes at the question. "Very funny wise guy." She paused for a moment, taking on an exaggerated thoughtful expression. "Actually the only one who I've even come close knocking out this month…was you." The final two words were punctuated with a pointed digit and an amused smile.

Even Dave had to join in to the taunting chorus that followed. Delgato looked somewhat offended. "Oh come on, I was still on my feet, and that was a lucky kick."

Wolford paused in his laughter to chime in. "You were stumbling around the mat, and when I asked if you were OK, your answer was that you wanted a double Bugga Burga with extra mayo to go."

The group once again descended into laughter and the various mammals started to break up, a couple pausing to pat either Delgato's or Zephyr's shoulder in consolation of their social or martial defeat.

Robert had noticed Dave when he addressed Delgato, and caught his eye motioned Dave towards the side of the gym with his head. Dave and Delgato started heading over in the direction indicated by the wolf. Dave could see that there was a rather sizable file folder resting on a bench by the wall, and angled himself towards it.

Wolford reached it first and had it waiting in his paws when the two other mammals arrived.

Offering Dave the materials, the grey and white wolf had a small smirk on his muzzle. "So Carol's got you running errands Doc?"

Dave nodded and took the materials, making no effort to look at the contents. "There was an accident over at ZFB Baden and Carol got called out."

The other wolf's ears pulled back at the news and there was concern in his eyes. Delgato, Dave noticed had also obviously not heard of it prior to this, and his attention was fully focused on Dave. "Was anyone hurt?" Wolford asked.

"All Carol said was that there was at least one casualty, but that could mean anything from minor injuries, right up to a fatality." He said while shaking his head. "I don't think she had any more details." Looking around the gym he shrugged before continuing. "If it was bad, you guys would know before me. ZAF bases can usually handle everything but the most severe injuries, and there weren't any alerts over at Zootopia General."

Both officers nodded, but Wolford did pull out his phone and start typing. "I've got a cousin over at Baden, I just need to check in on her." Lifting up his head, he gave Dave a smile "Sorry to cut this short Doc. Just make sure she gets those." He gestured with his paw towards the folder as he headed out of the gym.

Dave offered a wave towards Wolford's back, and then looked to Delgato. "I guess that's everything then." A smile did crest his muzzle as he noticed Zephyr speaking with Officer Wilde again. "On second thought." Dave said when he caught the cheetah's gaze and waved him over.

The cheetah cocked hi head and said something to Wilde before trotting over, offering his paw in greeting. "Hey, Dave wasn't it?" he asked.

"That's me." He replied and took the officer's paw in greeting. He motioned with his head back towards the fox that was now looking intently towards the group himself. "Would you like a few pointers in regards to your new sparring partner?" He asked.

The cheetah looked a bit taken aback at the offer, and it was Delgato who spoke both. "You might want to listen Spots, the Doc here has been training for longer than all of us. He's had the _honor_ of being Latrans' test subject for years now."

Dave had to laugh at that. "What do you mean HAD the honor? I'm still the first one she goes to when some new torture pops into her head," He said with an exaggerated shudder. Looking back to Zephyr he made an offering gesture with his paw. "And I may have trained for longer, but at nowhere near the intensity that you guys have to. Regardless, would you like some tips from what I saw today?"

The cheetah gave a small snort, and placed his paws on his hips, but nodded his head. He was apparently willing to listen, and that was a start.

"Did you see Wilde's stance during the fight?" Dave started, placing his paws in one matching the fox's from earlier. "This is a primarily defensive position, and in a fight, it's a reactionary one. Your stance was highly aggressive, and I'd wager everyone watching could tell that you would be the one to make the first move."

The cheetah looked thoughtful for a moment. "So I played right into his paws?"

Dave gave a half nod at this but his expression showed that wasn't the whole story. "Not exactly. I don't know much about Officer Wilde, but what I have heard is that he's more of a strategist than a brawler. Don't think of it as you played into his paws, but that he was able to read you and adapt." Dave lifted up a paw in a halting gesture before continuing. "The only way to deal with someone like him is to turn the tables and trick _them_."

Zephyr visibly deflated, and Delgato started laughing and patting the other cat on the back. "Well I'm fucked!" Was all the cheetah said in a dejected tone.

Delgato managed to stop laughing only with some effort, and looked over to Dave who had his head cocked to the side in confusion. "That fox's head is a damn maze. It's got more twists and turns than anyone can keep track of. Poor Zephyr here would have a better chance taking Carol down than he does tricking Wilde."

Dave gave a chuckle at the revelation, and shook his head. "Well then, it's either get crafty quick, or learn to enjoy the taste of gym mats." Looking over to Delgato he continued on "This is just the kind of torture that Carol loves. There's no way she didn't see this happening."

The lion again broke into laughter at Dave's comment. "Oh yeah, you know this was exactly what she wanted."

Looking back to Zephyr Dave placed a paw on his shoulder. "Take it as a chance to learn something different." He paused as a thought came to him. "Did you get that disarm down pat?" He asked.

Zephyr perked up a bit at this, and he nodded "Yeah, Wilde went through it with me a bunch of times before he _suggested_ that we move on to sparring. I'll be working on it again tomorrow, but I think Ms. Latrans will be satisfied."

Dave smiled at this, knowing that Carol really would have made the big cat suffer if she thought he was slacking off. "Then you're safe from her wrath…for now." He offered the cheetah a wave before catching Delgato's eye and starting to head out of the gym. "Good luck with Wilde. From the sound of things, you're gonna need it." He called back over his shoulder, and heard a few laughs from around the gym.

Although Delgato made no comment, Dave waited until the lion took the lead in escorting him out of the precinct. When they reached the front doors, Dave took the opportunity to speak while offering the Delgato his paw. "Mark, thanks again for what you did with Molly and her family…and also for letting me in on that match."

The lion smiled and took the proffered paw. "It was nothing Doc…I don't suppose you can give me a hint about Molly?" He asked, looking somewhat sheepish at the request.

Dave laughed, but shook his head. "Call your sister Mark. That's the only way you'll find out." Raising his paw he started to back towards the door. "Carol and I will probably be at Mac's on Thursday if you're interested." He added.

Delgato nodded. "I'll send the word around to the rest of the class. As long as nothing explodes, I should be able to make it at least."

Dave smiled, and had another thought. "Actually, there is something that you might be able to help me with. I'm planning a surprise for Carol and I could use a list of the ZPD officers she's closest to. If you or Wolford could throw something together, it would be a big help."

Delgato's looked at Dave slightly askance, and there was suspicion written all over his face. "What exactly are you planning?"

Dave gave a quick look around to make sure they wouldn't be overheard. "Remember yesterday when I mentioned that Carol and I met almost 7 years ago? Well that anniversary is coming up in about 2 and a half weeks, and I've been planning to…"

* * *

He had laid out his plans for the evening with the lion, and received his assurance that he's send over a list by tomorrow.

After leaving Precinct 1, he started to jog back home. Checking his watch, he could see that Carol wouldn't be home for over an hour yet, and he stopped off at the local grocer to grab some ingredients for dinner. He had the time, so he may as well make something nice for the two of them.

An hour and a half later, he was standing in front of the stove, stirring a pot of marinara sauce, and the smell of basil and garlic filled the room. The timer on the oven started to beep, and he retrieved the tray of mealworms that had been roasting within, and added them into the sauce.

Everything was ready, now all that was needed was his mate.

* * *

It was only about another 15 minutes before he heard the car pull into the driveway, and placed a pot of water on the stove to get it boiling for the pasta. Once everything was ready he headed towards the front door to greet Carol and find out what had happened at the base.

As soon as he saw her, he knew that something was wrong. She was just standing in the doorway, looking towards him without seeing anything. In her right paw was what appeared to be an unopened bottle of Champagne, but her expression made celebration seem like the farthest thing from her mind.

"Carol, what's wrong?" He asked, moving towards her, only to have her flinch at the sound of his voice.

She looked down at the bottle in her paws, and finally looked towards him in a way that made it seem that she was partially coherent. "The accident." She started, and took a deep breath before continuing. "WO Watterman was killed in an accident at the base." She motioned to the bottle. "I wanted to celebrate..." She said in a deadpan voice that trailed off into nothingness.

Dave's ears pinned back at the name. Allan Watterman was a name he wouldn't lightly forget, as the dingo had been a source of torment for Carol during the early part of her enlistment. The fact that she had wanted to celebrate his death spoke volumes of the hurt she still felt, but there was something about this that struck her on an even deeper level.

Carol still looked dazed as she walked right past Dave, leaving the front door wide open. "He was taking a group of cadets out for an after school march." She looked at Dave and even had a small smile on her muzzle, as Dave moved to close the door before returning to her. "You know the type, get the cubs all kitted out in full battle rattle, and have them drill for a bit."

Her expression clouded as she continued. "Some FNG E1 prick was too busy checking his phone to look where he was going, and he went right through their formation. Watterman put himself between the jeep and the cubs." She paused again and then her voice broke, and he saw that she was on the verge of tears. "They're…they're calling him a fucking hero Dave. _THAT PIECE OF SHIT IS BEING REMEMBERED AS A HERO!_ " She screamed.

Dave moved towards his mate, but she held up her paw to him. "After what he put me through? After what he did to me? They have the stones to call him a hero? FUCK THAT!" She yelled, and nearly threw the Champaign bottle to the floor in anger, but caught herself before following through, and instead placed the bottle on the coffee table.

She was flipping between rage and anguish, and Dave wanted nothing more than to embrace her, but she wasn't done, not by a long shot, so he just listened to her. " _She's reliving it and I can't do a thing but stand here."_ He thought.

"I was a fucking play toy for him, and he spent months telling me how weak I was; how I would never be a real soldier." Her tears were now flowing freely, but the anger was still at the forefront. "And then, when I finally had enough and reported that bastard, I was told to 'toughen up', to 'suck it up' by the brass." She stopped and a snarl formed on her muzzle. "And…and when I finally showed him that I wasn't weak, _I_ was the one to get written up. That fucker almost got me DD for it. Hell, if it wasn't for Taft seeing through that BS, I would have been lucky to avoid prison, and now he gets to go out a fucking hero?"

Her arms wrapped around her mid-section, and her face crumbled into a visage of anguish. " No, no, no, I'm not weak Dave. I'm not.". He rushed forward and wrapped her in a fierce embrace. She finally collapsed into tears and just kept repeating "He's not a hero. He's not a hero. He's not…"

Dave just kept repeating that he loved her, his own tears were flowing freely, and the dinner was forgotten. He knew that tonight that her nightmares would return and try and claim her, but he would never let her go.

* * *

The wolf-fox couple were sitting on the couch and watching a movie when the phone rang. Janet reluctantly motioned for her mate to sit up so she could get out from underneath him. Tommy made a disgruntled noise, but extricated himself from his mate's arms, and took up a more traditional seat on the couch.

Janet reached over and grabbed her cell, noticing that the call was from Dr. Walfin. She was surprised as it was well past 9 o'clock. A sense of trepidation filled her as she hit the accept icon on screen.

"Hello?" Was all she said.

"Hello, May I please speak with Janet? It's Dr. Walfin." The female voice on the other end asked.

"It's me Doctor. You're calling fairly late." She added, and she hoped that her worry wasn't apparent to Tommy.

"I'm sorry to take so long, but I had them run the tests again to be sure." The doctor paused for a moment. "Janet, I need you and Tommy to head down to the Honeywell Centre as soon as possible."

Janet didn't know what Dr. Walfin was talking about. "You want me to go where? I've never heard of that place. Why now?"

Dr. Walfin sighed over the phone. "Janet, I know that this is asking a lot, but you need to head over there right now. It's right beside Zootopia General." She paused before continuing. "This isn't something to cover over the phone, and I can meet you there."

Janet's fear was increasing by the moment, and Dr. Walfin's evasion was obvious. "Doctor, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on." She said, and immediately regretted it, as Tommy was now utterly focused on her, and the worry that was etched on his face was very real.

"Janet, this isn't how you should…" The doctor stopped part way and then sighed heavily. "Janet, all the test results say the same thing. You're pregnant."

Janet was taken aback by the proclamation, and her whole body just felt numb. "That's impossible." Was all that she could say in response.

Dr. Walfins voice was calm, but she could hear the underlying worry in the tone. "I know, and that's why you need to get the Honeywell Centre. They specialize in interspecies couples, and are the best option helping you, Tommy, and your pups."

The last word hit Janet like a boulder. "My pups?" She mumbled out loud, the word both so alien, and yet so natural on her lips.

"Janet, I know this is a shock, but you need to head over there. The test also indicate that there might be a blood incompatibility between you and the fetus. It needs to be treated ASAP. Do you need a ride? I can have a Zuber pick you up." Dr Walfin asked, trying to sound comforting, but her having given voice to the risks had stripped away some of her professional demeanor.

Janet gave herself a shake and replied. "No, no, Tommy and I will head over right away."

A sigh of relief could be heard on the other end of the phone. "Good. I'll meet you there. If anything happens between now and then this is my cell number. Don't hesitate to call. I'll see you soon Janet."

Janet hit the disconnect icon and stared into space for a moment. "Janet?" a quiet voice beside her roused her from her reverie. "Janet, are you OK?" She looked over to see that Tommy was looking at her wide eyed. Before she could reply she could see the beginnings of a smile on his muzzle. "Did you say pups?"

She gave herself a shake, but nodded her head, "Yeah, I did. Tommy...I'm pregnant."

The smaller fox gave a cry and rushed forward to embrace her. "You said we couldn't have pups! Janet this is amazing!"

No part of her wanted to crush his happiness at the news, but she couldn't lie to him. "Tommy, it shouldn't be possible, and we need to go over to the hospital so that we can get checked out. There…" She paused as the words caught in her throat. "There might be something wrong."

Tommy's face instantly reverted to one of worry as he nodded, but it quickly shifted back to one of elation. He ran to the bedroom to gather up some clothes and toiletries. Her being on the ZFD meant that both of them were well familiar with what was needed for a hospital visit, and he returned within a minute with a small bag ready to go.

Even through the worry that they both felt, Janet couldn't help but embrace her fox. "I don't know what I'd do without you." She said as she held onto him.

"Me too." He replied before pushing away from her and motioning for her to head towards the apartment entrance. "Come on, let's go."

She had to smile at his change of attitude. The prospect of pups had driven away his fear for now, and she just prayed that his hope wasn't misplaced. The thought that " _This should be impossible"_ kept running through her head though and haunting her, as she headed down to the parking lot with him.

* * *

**End Notes:**

Well once again my plans for this chapter didn't exactly work out due to real life issues. I originally wanted this chapter to come out around November 11th for Remembrance Day (Veterans Day), and I missed that mark by a week, but I'm still going to add on my thoughts on this topic.

Right now, there is a lot of fear and anger simmering in the world, and this isn't something that can be sustained over the long term. Both fear and anger lead to actions that are generally self-destructive, but it's all too easy to let ourselves become lost in their grasp. Unfortunately when this happens, violence is almost always close to follow.

It was 98 years ago that the guns fell silent on, what was at the time, the largest conflict in the history of our entire species. Almost 11 million service men, and an estimated 7 million civilians lost their lives, and the conflict was called "the war to end all wars".

…it's a shame we weren't smart enough to learn the right lesson from the experience.

Time and time again, anger, fear, greed and hatred have wrapped themselves in the colors of patriotism to justify conflict. The only constant in this, particularly in recent history, is that the men and women who volunteer to fight for us sign over a blank cheque with a value up to, and including their lives, to all of us. In exchange for this, they deserve far more than what we historically have provided.

Although we have progressed somewhat in our understanding of the trauma that our soldiers deal with, there is still a huge gulf where it comes to actually treating conditions like PTSD for our troops. Gone are the days, as in WWI, where soldiers were executed for desertion or cowardice, when these soldiers were probably simply too traumatized to continue on. They started calling the condition shell shock, and it was only years later that a posthumous pardon was granted to the hundreds who may have been executed for something completely beyond their control.

The current armed forces still deal with severe issues on how to manage the stresses that are associated with their role, but this is also exacerbated by many elements of military culture that persist to this day.

One of the most galling truths is that sexual assault remains both woefully common and underreported in both Canadian and US armed forces. A 2002 survey of female soldiers found that over 25% indicated that they had been assaulted at some point during their time in the military. Of these, less than half reported the crime to their superiors. For male soldiers, this number was about 1-2% having been sexually assaulted (which numerically still makes it the most common assault overall).

The most worrying thing from all of this was that 90% of those soldiers who reported the assault were involuntarily discharged within a year of reporting the incident, and that up to 62% faced retaliation on either a professional or social level afterwards.

And what about the attackers? How does a 2.5% conviction rate sound to you?

Yeah, with support like that, you can't really blame soldiers from not reporting the crimes.

I'm sorry to go off on a tangent like this, but it's just something that I'm forced to think about around this time of year. I never knew either of my grandfathers, as they were both gone by the time I was born. My maternal grandfather was an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces during WWII, and he left some journals and the like. I don't know where they've gotten to now, but I remember one line quite clearly. For all I know, he cribbed it from someone else, but the words ring true:

"No soldier leaves the battlefield unscarred. The wounds never heal, and the war is always just a dream away."

All too often we forget what these soldiers put on the line for us, and all of it is a result of those emotions I wrote of earlier.

Don't give in to hate. Don't give in to fear. Try to find a way to help, to build bridges…to make the world better, not tear it apart.

When faced with uncertainty, it's all too easy to fall back on fear, and that's why people have used it for millennia to manipulate those around them. Even outside of politics or the military, just look to activist groups such as the anti-GMO crowd or the anti-vaxxers. In both cases they don't generally have experimental data to back up their positions (and if anyone is interested in seeing some of the research that has been done, send me a PM), so instead they rely on fear.

"GMOs cause Cancer!"

"Vaccines lead to autism!"

These statements have no empirical backing, and the literature quite nicely has eviscerated these positions in scientific circles, but they persist among the public. Why? Because most people don't know enough about the topics to see the difference between good science and bunk, and when one side is screaming about a danger to you and your kids, while the other just points to a bunch of graphs and tables, fear tends to win.

Anyways, I'll stop the rant here, and promise that I'll revert back to my usual Zootopia musings for the next chapter.

 **Random Acronyms:** Sorry about that, but Carol's scene in this chapter made some use of acronyms that might not be familiar to all readers. It didn't make sense to define them in the text, as their use becomes such second nature that you really do use them without thinking.

 **WO:** Warrant Officer

 **FNG:** Fucking New Guy

 **E1:** Private (generally a new recruit, also see **FNG** )

 **DD:** Dishonorable Discharge

OK, enough of that, it's **Science Time!**

* * *

**Karyotyping:** This is the process by which the number and appearance of chromosomes in the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell is determined. As techniques go, it's really only useful for detecting big changes in the DNA sequence, as it is based on visual characteristics of the individual chromatin.

On the topic of chromosomes, it might be beneficial to go over the parts that make them up. If we think of each chromosome as a straight line, the two ends are the telomeres, which are regions of repetitive DNA sequence that is thought to play a protective role for the chromosomes. Basically, it prevents the gene encoding DNA from degradation, as well as preventing chromatin from fusing together...although this can still happen.

Between the two telomeres is the centromere, which is the region that links the two sister chromatids together during cell division. As with the telomere, it contains a high level of repetitive DNA, although in this case, they are sometimes referred to as satellite DNA.

The position of the centromere on the chromosome leads the classification of the chromosome as either:

Metacentric: The centromere is located at the centre of the chromosome. This leads to X shaped chromosome pairs, and the arms of each are roughly the same size.

Submetacentric: The centromere is closer to one side than the other, but both arms are close in size. This leads to the chromosome having a long (q) and a short (p) arm.

Acrocentric: The centromere is much closer to one end of the chromosome. This leads to a much larger q/p ratio. The human Y chromosome is an example of this.

Telocentric: The centromere is almost at the very end of the chromosome. The p arm may not be visible at all.

 **Tissue Fixation and Sectioning:** I tried to describe this in the text of the story, but it deserves to have a little more time. One critical part of medical diagnostics involves histological analyses, that being the microscopic examination of cells. In order to do this, the tissue generally must be prepared prior to mounting on slides and observation.

The tissue fixation can be done using a variety of chemical means, but generally a solution containing formaldehyde or paraformaldehyde is used. As I described earlier, this chemical crosslinks with many proteins and compounds and prevents their degradation.

Once the tissue is fixed, it must be dehydrated, usually by exposure to ethanol for varying degrees of time. The tissue is then exposed to a clearing agent, such as xylene to remove the alcohol prior to the tissue being incubated with warm paraffin wax, which is drawn into the dehydrated tissue.

At this stage the tissue can be stored at room temperature for an extended period of time. After sectioning, the individual sections are mounted on slides and can be analyzed using a variety of methods, mainly focusing on the labeling of individual organelles or proteins using chemical or molecular probes.

...also the results can be quite beautiful. Just try searching for beautiful histology in google image. Some of the images are truly breathtaking.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a final note, I'd like to say that I was not exaggerating about the comprehensive exam in the slightest.
> 
> It. Is. Hell.
> 
> After studying on average 8 hours a day for 6 weeks, while still having to work on my research project. For the written exam, I managed to write 120 pages in a week about physiology, molecular biology, molecular genetics, and pathology (in my defense that was double spaced and there were figures).
> 
> Afterwards, I had the pleasure of being grilled for 4 hours, and if you think I was joking about someone in biology getting asked about something regarding black holes, I can assure you I was not. One of the final questions I had during my exam was "What do you know about the God particle?" which then sent the questions down a path that included theoretical physics, astrophysics, astronomy, theology, and ethics.
> 
> ...I did mention sleeping for a week when it was all over. That was also not an exaggeration.
> 
> In the end though, it was an experience that wasn't as bad as I feared...but I still have nightmares about it.
> 
> Regardless, thank you to everyone who has made it this far. As always if you have any questions or comments, please post them, or send me a PM. I'll try to address them in a timely fashion.
> 
> Eng050599


	8. Chapter 8: Consequences and Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it's another late chapter…I'm starting to sense an unfortunate pattern, but I'm glad to say that this one was particularly fun to write. It's not a "break" chapter like Chapter 4 was, but like Chapter 7, it allows for a bit more insight into the Centre and its staff. Dave almost gets a rest this time around, as we look at the mammals that make up the night shift.
> 
> Somehow this one expanded to 17,000 words over the course of a single day. I didn't plan it, but I really do like how this one turned out. Hopefully you'll agree.
> 
> Once again, thank you to all the people that took the time to comment, review, or ask a question.
> 
> FanFiction:
> 
> toinin' and boinin: I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, and I hope that you're able to make some use of the random science tidbits that I try to sprinkle into the tale. Good luck in your studies, and just know that becoming a scientist is a long road, but is very much worth it if you enjoy solving puzzles.
> 
> Nikolaiwulf: I promise nothing in regards to Janet and Tommy, and there are going to be some very difficult questions in the upcoming chapters.
> 
> Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps: As always, thank you for your insight and help when plotting out the scenes that make their way into this story. I haven't written down the scenes that we discussed yet, but they are going to break me when it comes time to do so.
> 
> SrCheese: I hope that I was able to answer your questions well enough, and you're not the only one who thought Chapter 7 was going to be all fuzzy goodness. One of those is coming up, but that time is not now.
> 
> Berzerker88: We covered this in our PM thread, but just for the other readers: I was not exaggerating about the comps in one bit, and yes Carol seeing her accuser lauded as a hero was very difficult to write.
> 
> chorpion: I'm glad that you decided to give the story a try, and hopefully the edits will help your own tale grow. I'm interested to see where you take things.
> 
> From AO3
> 
> WolfGuardMiestwin: Abby might not be a goth, but you'll see some more of her personality in this chapter.
> 
> Kittah4: Thank you again for commenting on some of the narrative elements that I'm still trying to get a handle on. Hopefully, the naming for the various characters and their associated species is better balanced this time around. This one isn't a true relief chapter, but it again should highlight the relationships of the staff at the Centre.
> 
> wherethecoffee: It's going to be an interesting few years, but don't lose heart…but also yeah, getting a PhD is a lot of work, and things like the comps stay with you for a lifetime. I haven't had "the dream" for about a year now, but it's always a threat when stress gets high.
> 
> Once again, I welcome any and all comments and questions. Please just leave a review or PM and I'll try to address it ASAP.
> 
> And now let's get back to the story.

 

* * *

  **Chapter 8: Revelations and Consequences**

The antelope stood alone in the parking lot, looking down at his phone in shock. A cigarette hung loosely from his muzzle for a moment before falling to the ground. The sound of laughter could be heard from the device, and Jim's mind raced as he struggled to process what had just occurred.

" _This can't be happening."_ A panicked voice inside his head cried out before the laughter on the other line tapered off.

"Oh Spirits Jim, this is even better then when I broke the news to Dave." Doug said, the rabbit's amused expression transmitted over the Muzzletime connection in vivid detail. "The board's made its decision, and it's time for you to pass on some of that knowledge you've acquired over the years my friend."

"I thought Dave was joking when he sent me the text earlier, but you're serious?" He asked still wanting to believe that this was just Doug's idea of a joke. "Doug, you know I absolutely suck as a teacher. In the last class I taught at ZU, the most positive comment I received from the evaluations was, _'the best cure for insomnia I could have asked for'_. I took the night shift here so that I wouldn't be able to screw up _another_ crop of grad students." He was gesturing wildly at this point, trying to make the rabbit see some reason.

The rabbit only seemed to be further amused at his antics and it was fight to avoid another bout of laughter. "Jim, you're exaggerating. We both know you're a fine teacher; the lecture environment just doesn't suit you." He added while shaking his head. "You've done a fine job with grad students in the past."

Jim stopped at this, and his face took on a pained expression. "You mean like I did with Eric? Is that what you mean Doug?"

Doug's ears drooped and his expression became sombre. "That wasn't your fault Jim. If anyone is to blame, it was me for not realizing how badly the work was affecting him." The old buck gave a deep sigh as unpleasant memories were brought back to the fore. "It was my responsibility to monitor him, not yours. I'm just sorry you were the one who was there when he collapsed, although in many ways he's also lucky it was you. You did everything right Jim, and he got the help he needed afterwards."

"That doesn't really help things Doug. I yelled at him, and the next thing he's on the ground having a full on dissociative seizure." The antelope lifted his free hoof to rub his brow. "I was the one spending the time with him, and I didn't notice that he was reaching the breaking point. Hell Genevieve or Dave would have _smelled_ it on him, but I just blindly went on berating him for some silly technique he slipped up on." He looked down at his phone and pleaded with his eyes. "Please Doug; I'm not ready for this."

The older rabbit sighed and paused for a moment before continuing. "Jim, you and Dave put it into perspective just how badly we _need_ to get more mammals in here. You directly asked me to sacrifice my daughter to this place, but the fact is that we're all going to have to give up something to make any real progress." He held up a paw when he saw Jim's mouth open. "I'm not going to throw you to the wolves though Jim…Dave and Abby might take issue that phrase." He gave a small chuckle at the thought. "Would you be willing to co-advise with someone else on staff? You really are good at mentoring students Jim. You're certainly better at it than me. I've probably spent a total of 2 hours in the lab this year."

Jim gave a small laugh at the admission. "You're right at that Doug. You might have set a record for least paws on teaching time with Jackie last year. If it wasn't for the weekly meeting you had with her, everyone would've guessed that she was Laura's student." He thought back to the 'lab's foundling', as she had been known. The sheep had graduated at the beginning of the year, shortly after Abby had started up, and her project had initially focused on the clinical portions of the centre, where her interactions with Doug were far more common.

Fate, and a cantankerous committee member, however had laid those plans to waste. Not content with the population data she had been collecting, she had been forced to find some molecular support for her hypotheses to satisfy his particular requirements. She had been stuck down in the lab for almost a year gathering the required information. Fortunately her work had paid off, and she had discovered a clear genetic linkage between Batten's disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder, and the CLN gene family across a wide variety of species.

Jim couldn't help but consider the implications of that discovery. _"In another couple of years, we'll even be able to fix it; all because of a cantankerous ZU professor, and a terrified sheep."_

Doug had a smile on his muzzle as he recognized Jim's reminiscing. "Did you ever read her thesis Jim?" The rabbit asked.

Jim shook his head. "Not the final version, I just helped to edit the individual chapters."

"You should. She went out of her way to thank you, Dave and Laura in her acknowledgements." Doug paused for a moment before continuing. "Jim, you are a good teacher, and the Centre needs that right now. You and Dave have wealth of knowledge that you've already been passing on in an informal capacity, but it's time to take it past that."

Jim noticed that Doug's expression became more clouded as he spoke, and the antelope couldn't help but notice just how old his friend looked in that moment. "When we first started up the Centre, we had a team of 63 mammals. Over the years, we've lost 2 for every 1 we've gained. We've reached a critical point Jim, and you know it." Doug shook his head, and Jim could see that he had come to a hard decision of his own. "Even when Melissa joins us, we need to find at least 2 more physicians within the next year, and the research staff needs to double within the next 5, to say nothing for us recruiting every nurse we can get our paws on."

Jim's expression softened with the revelation. _"I knew things were getting worse, but this?"_ He thought, the magnitude of Doug's declaration driving home his previous words that sacrifices would be required from all of them.

Thinking over the situation, only one thought kept coming through, _"He's right damn it!"_ He had been at the Centre for over 8 years now, and he had seen the attrition that had slowly drained their ranks. Warren, Greg, Tara, Melanie, and Jesse had all left the Centre within a year after he joined, representing almost half of the physicians on staff at the time. Since then, the Centre had hired only 2 doctors, Catherine and Dave. This didn't even begin to compare to the technical, research, and nursing staff that they had lost…Hell, even housekeeping had to be outsourced.

It had only taken a moment for the full picture of the situation to hit him. His gaze returned to the phone in his hoof and he said, "You're right Doug. This can't continue on…but I'm just not sure I can do it." He paused, but Doug didn't reply right away and he drew in a shaky breath. "I'll co-advise with Genevieve, Donnie or Laura as our backgrounds mesh well enough. Dave would be an option as well, but from his text earlier, I think he's dealing with this only slightly better than I am."

Doug gave a laugh at the last comment. "Well he accepted the inevitable quicker than you did, but to say that he was surprised was an understatement." The rabbit's face went back to a more serious expression. "The odds are we won't be able to recruit any students until the spring term anyways, so you'll have time to get ready. In the meantime, we'll be setting up a lecture series at ZU to drum up interest in the Centre and we'll be advertising the postings wherever we can find space." Seeing the look on Jim's face, Doug gave a small smile. "Don't worry about it too much, Donny's going to organize the lectures, and he's already volunteered to give the first one. We all got to dodge that particular bullet for now."

Jim shook his head. "I get the feeling that's the closest I'm going to get to a win on this topic." Looking at the time displayed on screen, he motioned over his shoulder towards the Centre. "I need to head in Doug. Laura's been holding down the fort long enough."

Doug nodded in agreement. "It should be a quiet evening tonight. There were no immediate admissions from the consults, and Ms. Woodman, White, and Pandel were discharged as expected. As long as nothing happened after I left, the only patient you'll have is Ms. Robins." He paused briefly before continuing, and there was genuine regret in his eyes. "If it means anything Jim, I wouldn't ask you to do this if we didn't need it so badly."

With a sigh, Jim nodded in understanding. "I know Doug. I won't say I'm happy about it, but I know that it needs to be done….I just wish I had more time to prepare."

Doug nodded in agreement. "The board didn't intend on having you and Dave start until this time next year, but with the shit that Jason pulled, we're effectively down _another_ physician." Jim was shocked to hear the rabbit swear, as the only other time he could recall, a mammal's life had literally been at stake. His eyes were hard and his ears had drooped behind his back." The five of us aren't enough to handle everything if we get an influx of patients, and that's unacceptable."

Doug gave himself a shake. "Regardless, congratulations Professor Cerval. May you have another quiet night."

"Goodnight Doug. Give Trish my best." Jim said before disconnecting the call. He started to walk towards the front doors, but then stopped for a moment before making an additional decision. "Fuck it!" He said, reaching into his pocket and retrieving another cigarette. Doug's call had interrupted his previous smoke, and given how this night was starting, he wasn't going in until his nicotine levels were topped off.

" _Laura can wait five more minutes."_ He thought as he lit the cigarette and took a deep draw of the soothing carcinogens into his lungs.

* * *

 

The atmosphere inside the Centre was utterly sedate compared to the chaos of consult day. With only one patient to monitor, it had also been dreadfully boring for the sable ferret once Cat had left for the evening an hour earlier. The lack of mammals at the Centre had made their schedules somewhat esoteric. They needed to have at least one physician on call at all times, but with only 5 of them left, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep that going.

" _I haven't been down to the lab in weeks."_ She thought glumly, and mentally cursed Jason for his idiocy. "What is it with those ruminants?" She asked no one in particular looking at the clock. The fact that Jason had brought things to a head was bad enough, but now Jim was late as well.

A low cough behind her made the ferret wince slightly, as she turned around and saw the sizable form of Kate Uddington looking down at her. The bison had come on shift only a few minutes ago, but had obviously had overheard her muttered comment.

"Fine Kate, 'What is it with those _male_ ruminants?'" She said, before catching herself again. "Ruminant physicians, maybe?" At which point both females broke out into laughter.

"I saw Jim outside when I came in Dr. Pawson. I'd imagine he's having a smoke, as usual." Kate said, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"Hmmm, there might be more to it this time." Laura mused, a malicious smile forming on her muzzle. "Doug said he was going to call just before Jim when on shift." She cocked her ear towards the door and theatrically cupped a paw around it. Shaking her head, she continued. "I don't hear any wailing of the damned, so maybe he hasn't called just yet."

Kate had a confused expression on her face, and Laura was honestly surprised. "What, you didn't hear already?"

"Hear what? The only good gossip I heard about was Dave almost putting Dr. Kent through a wall yesterday." She looked seriously towards the ferret. "Are you telling me that there's more?"

The bison reached over and pulled one of the large sized chairs closer, and took a seat. Her attention as now completely focused on Laura. "Well don't keep me in suspense girl, dish it out!"

Laura gave a laugh and hopped up onto a chair more suited to her smaller frame. "Well, you know that this whole affair with Jason is going to leave us down another physician, right?" Kate nodded, having at least heard enough of the details from the rest of the staff. "Doug, Donnie, and I have been planning on getting some new mammals in here for a while now, and part of that was… _convincing_ Jim and Dave to take on some additional teaching duties."

She gave her head a shake and laughed before speaking again. "No, convincing isn't the right word for it. Jim and Dave were _TOLD_ that they were taking on additional teaching duties." Her expression became slightly pouty as another thought came to her. "I'm actually a little ticked that Doug didn't let me sit in on the festivities. Dave apparently gaped like a fish, and I can only guess how Jim's going to take the news."

Kate let out a rumbling laugh. "Please tell me someone got pictures of Dave?"

Laura threw up her paws in exasperation. "No, can you believe it? Doug didn't even think of it with Dave, and neither did the lab crew when Donny broke the news to Abby about her comps." She shook her head in resignation. "Even with him fully decked out in PPE, seeing all hope drain from his eyes would have been _soooo_ worth it. All I have to go on is what Genevieve and Donny described." She looked up at the bison with a small smile on her muzzle. "Not all is lost though. I showed Doug how to capture a screenshot from Muzzletime before he left, so we might still have some amusement this evening."

Kate's reply was cut-off when Laura's phone buzzed in her pocket. Pulling out the device, she gave out a small bark of laughter before turning the screen towards the other female. "I think Doug broke the news to Jim. It's no wailing of the damned, but it will do."

Both females broke into laughter at the image of Jim's face with his jaw hanging slack, and his cigarette caught in mid fall.

" _Doug might not be the most technical mammal I know, but he has a gift for this."_ Laura thought before taking on a more introspective look, while holding up her phone and shaking it slightly. "Hey Kate, how big do you think we could blow this up?"

"Only one way to find out. Forward me that pic ASAP." Kate said while turning her chair to face the monitor on the Nurse's station.

Laura's paws flew over the touchscreen and sent the image out, not only to Kate, but also the rest of the Centre staff. _"…well except for Jim and Dave of course"_ she thought. She might not have been present to witness their 'promotions', but she could still ensure that they were properly embarrassed about it.

* * *

 

" _So 5 minutes turned into 15. No big deal."_ Jim thought to himself as he walked through the front doors of the Centre. Looking over to the reception desk, he saw that Natalie was getting ready to head out, and was going over something with Edward Small, the night receptionist who was getting his much smaller desk set up on top of the counter. The rat had been there since the Centre started, and simply relished the night shift. Jim knew that he was a former nurse who, rather than retire, had taken up the night reception shift at the Centre.

Over the years Jim had noticed that every time he came by reception, the rat was furiously typing away…even when they had no patients. After a couple of years, he had finally asked what he was writing. It ended up that Ed was a modestly successful children's book writer, who had a fascination with the folk tales from the old world. He modernized them, as well as getting them down to a PG rating at times…Jim had never read some of the original tales previously, and to say that they could give adults nightmares was an understatement, to say nothing of cubs.

Regardless, the old rat was a never ending source of trivia, and like the rest of the night shift, had become a tight part of the group over the years.

Natalie looked up from Ed, and smiled when Jim raised a hoof in greeting. She motioned with her hoof towards Jim and Ed followed her motion. When he saw Jim he immediately started laughing, and then looked up at Natalie with his mouth agape pantomiming the motion of something falling from his muzzle. The gnu shushed him and smiled up at Jim.

"Good evening Dr. Cerval…you're a bit late tonight." She greeted him warmly, but there was a hit of malice as well.

Jim glanced around cautiously, thinking that some prank was afoot, but seeing that they were alone he looked back to the pair. "Yeah, I had to take a call from Dr. Wilson. He had some bad…no not bad; soul crushing news for me."

"Way to be a drama queen Jim, or should I say Professor Cerval." Ed said while taking a seat behind his desk, his digits already working their way over the keyboard.

Throwing up his hooves, Jim gave the pair a look of exasperation. "Am I the last to know about this?"

Natalie had retrieved her purse, and started making her way out for the evening. "I don't know if Percy's heard yet, or the rest of the lab staff, but with Abby staying late tonight, along with Arnold, that crew's probably taken care of. I didn't have a chance to talk with Cat before she left, so maybe there's hope."

"There's no way Dr. Pawson would let her leave without knowing Nat." Ed piped in. "That would go against her base nature."

"Oh hush Ed. The doctors here are stuck with enough stuff that they can't gossip about. Laura gets a free pass when it comes to office shenanigans." Natalie walked over the Jim and wrapped him in a hug. "It's not so bad Jim. You and Dave deserve it."

Jim gave a chuckle as he returned the embrace. Like Ed, Natalie had been with the Centre from the start, and as such, she had a history with every mammal at the Centre. "I just wish I believed that Nat." Pausing for a moment Jim released Natalie and looked at her somewhat askance. "Say does this mean that I get a free pass for spreading gossip?"

Nat gave a short bark of laughter. "I suppose so, but you'll be encroaching on Laura and Cat's territory if you do. Keep that in mind." She replied shaking a hoof under Jim's nose in reproach. "Remember what happened to Francis after the Solstice party."

Jim had to wince at the memory. The mink had caught Laura in a…compromising position during the festivities, and had thought posting the photos in the lounge would be good for a laugh…and it was. Unfortunately for him, so were his screams when the methylene blue she had spiked _every_ one of his coffee pods with worked its way out of his system.

In a way the he had been lucky. Having his urine turn blue paled in comparison to what Laura had originally planned. Cat had dissuaded her from adding the capsaicin extract to his shampoo and eye drops at least.

"Duly noted Nat." He nodded in recognition of the warning. "Now get out of here before the other shoe drops. We almost never get two quiet nights in a row, and Karma will come calling soon."

The gnu gave a laugh and waved to Jim and Ed. "See you tomorrow. Be safe." She added before walking out the door.

Jim gave a sigh before he turned to head in to find Laura. "She's going to be ticked at you Jim." Ed called from his desk, motioning with his paw to the clock on the wall. It now read 21:20, and surprise promotion or no, Laura would be quite justified in biting his head off…metaphorically at least.

"I best get this over with then." He said as he squared his shoulders and went through the double doors that led to the exam rooms and the 1st floor nurses station.

He didn't have to go far to find Laura. She was standing in the middle of the hall, staring directly at him and tapping a hind–paw in irritation. For such a small mammal, she could project an aura of menace far greater than her stature should allow. For Jim, there was an almost instinctive urge to run, but he held it in check.

Running would just mean he'd die tired after all.

He started to speak, but was cut off by a shake of her head. "Not this time Jim. You're late, end of story. I don't care how your _promotion_ made you feel, and yes I already know about it. I was willing to cut you some slack. Say 5 minutes, but not this much. You know the penalty, and I expect it to be on my desk when I come in tomorrow."

Jim gave a sigh, but overall he had gotten off lightly. "Fine Laura, one large box of white chocolate grubs from Purdy's." The scowl on her muzzle changed to a smirk at his surrender. "Would it kill you to have a little sympathy? Doug did just drop a big bomb on me you know."

Laura clutched both paws together over her heart and gave him an utterly insincere look of condolence. "Oh, woe be unto you who is now in exactly the same position as the majority of the researchers here." The smirk returned to her face as she continued. "You were overdue for this and you know it. Sack up and deal with it."

Jim was shocked at her tone. Laura was brusque at the best of times, but this was extreme even for her. She must have seen it in his face as she sighed and rubbed her forehead with a paw. "Sorry Jim, that wasn't justified. Doug probably told you about the _situation_ we're facing, right?"

He nodded his head in reply and Laura continued on. "When was the last time you were able to take a vacation, or even take a whole day off unless you were down with some virulent plague? For me it's been 3 years Jim; 3 whole years." She shook her head at the revelation. "We can't go on like this. Our work is too important to abandon."

Jim knew where she was coming from. He hadn't had a non-sick related day off in years it seemed. They just didn't have the staff to cover all the shifts, and were running on a skeleton crew outside of the daylight hours. Putting form to the struggles made him cherish what he had all the more though _"Diana is a saint to put up with me and this place."_ He thought, but brought his focus back to the situation at hoof.

"I know Laura, and you and Doug are right. Did he tell you that Melissa's going to be starting with us soon?" He asked, hoping that he could cheer her up with some good news for once.

She looked up at him with surprise on her face. "No, he didn't say anything about it earlier." There was a genuine smile creeping onto her muzzle. "Any idea when she can start?"

"Not for a few months unfortunately. She's just finishing up her residency, so we're still going to be down a mammal thanks to Jason for now." Jim couldn't help but frown at the mention of his co-worker. Shaking his head he looked to Laura. "If Doug was any indication, we'll be cutting that asshole loose as soon as we can recruit some more DVMs, but for now we're stuck with him."

Laura gave a sad sigh. "We've been trying to recruit for years Jim. Why will this time be any different?"

Jim shook his head. "I don't know, but I think Doug has something in mind. Well something aside from just giving some lectures at ZU."

"Well whatever it is, I hope he shares it with the rest of us." Laura reached for the only chart at the station and flipped it open. "Anyways, we just have Ms. Robins to take care of." Looking at her watch she motioned for Jim to head to the lab. "I don't clock out until midnight, so you may as well try to get things organized with the night shift. I can handle things up here."

"Thanks Laura. I'll be sure to head up a bit early." He gave a small laugh as he started towards the elevator. "You're not getting two boxes of chocolate out of me tonight."

Laura closed the chart and leaned against the wall as she counted down the seconds until the elevator doors started to close. Right on cue, Jim's voice could clearly be heard just before the doors cut off any further reply "What the FUCK!"

The ferret started humming to herself as she made her way to the staircase up to the second floor. She was certain she'd kept Jim busy for long enough, and that he was now enjoying the fruits of Kate's labor.

" _It's too bad the large format printer was out of ink though."_ She thought to herself, but they had made due…and she got a box of her favourite chocolates out of the deal as well. As she was entering the stairwell, the one of the security cameras caught her eye, and she snapped her digits as a new idea popped into her head.

"Oooh, mental note, get Roger to pull the footage from the elevator." She said to herself as she double checked the time. Roger was the security guard for the Centre at night, and the cheetah would have easy access to the feeds. Otherwise she'd need to wait for Doug to come in tomorrow. "I might be able to get more mileage out of this than I thought."

* * *

 

His face was everywhere. The inside doors of the elevator were covered by dozens of them, all showed the same image, but in a seemingly endless array of sizes and configurations.

Jim caught himself making a similar expression as he took in his co-worker's handiwork, and a sense of dread filled him as the realization that this was probably only the first broadside of what would be a sustained engagement.

Fixing his face into a neutral expression, he did the only thing he could to maintain what dignity he had left. He ignored the photos.

When the doors opened, and he saw a solid line of printouts heading towards the lab entrance, he ignored it.

When he saw the laminated version waiting in the shower, he ignored it.

When he went into the lab proper however, he couldn't ignore it any longer. The chuckles grew from various parts of the lab as he came face to face with a doppelganger…well the best that could be thrown together on such short notice he supposed. "Come on guys, it's not that funny, and get out here, I can hear you laughing." He said to the _empty_ lab; well apparently empty of other living mammals. One of the anatomical dummies had been dressed in his lab coat and another of the photo's affixed to its head. A cigarette had been tied in mid fall from "his" jaw, and all in all, they had managed to get his posture fairly close.

It wasn't all at his expense though, as there was a sign on the dummy's chest that simply said, "Congratulations Professor Cerval!" and was surrounded by the signatures of the mammals who were on staff.

For all their ribbing of him, he shook his head at the realization that…most of them at least were genuinely happy for him and Dave.

A light applause started from the various side rooms, as the night staff filtered back into the main lab. There weren't many of them, but they were a tight nit group. Jim was certain that the dummy and the photos were the work of Laura and Kate, but the congratulations sign was all due to these mammals.

"OK everyone, we've had our fun, but there's work to do." A middle aged zebra called out to the assembled mammals. Dr. Percy Gaitwell was another original member of the Centre, and had been a part of the night staff from the get go. The lab was his once the sun went down, and that was fine with Jim.

There were only 4 other mammals in the lab currently. He was surprised to still see Abby present, and checking the clock, he guessed that she had to be pushing 13 hours by now. She must have read his thoughts, as she gave a laugh and grabbed him in a brief embrace. "I'm going home now Jim. There's always stuff to do, and we didn't have a chance to properly torture Dave this afternoon, so there was no way I was going to miss out on the opportunity twice." She turned and waved to the rest of the lab, and started heading for the airlock. "I need to get out of here before Percy starts that awful music. I don't know if it's just having a wolf's ears, but that stuff is just painful."

"You just don't have any taste in music Abby. Or do I need to remind you of the consequences of that Gazelle marathon slash black metal fest you subjected us to?" A female bobcat called out from behind her bench. After rummaging around for a moment, she hopped up on the step, so that she could be seen, and dramatically plunked a set of heavy duty noise-cancelling headphones on the surface. "I have never experienced two genres that should NOT be paired together as much as those two."

Abby gave a slight wince at the reprimand. "OK, maybe starting you guys off with Aaskereia might have been a mistake, but come on, it wasn't that bad."

"Penny's right Abby. I speak German, and I couldn't make out a single word they were _singing_ …and I use the word lightly." Ned couldn't help but laugh at the memory, and the goat motioned to his own bench with a hoof. "I still have my own pair ready to go the next time you manage to win a bet."

"I didn't think it was that bad Abby." Arnold added as he also started to make his way out for the evening. "Oh Jim, the results from your RNASeq run were uploaded to your cloud folder earlier. Anyways, I'm getting out of here before the golden oldies start playing." He added playfully before ducking out of the airlock.

Percy held up his hoof to silence the crowd. "That's enough of that. As we're all here now, the night shift rules are in effect. Jim, if you would do the honors." He said, and motioned Jim towards one of the computers which had been decked out with some rather sizable speakers.

"Aaaaand I'm out." Abby said while making a beeline for the airlock. After closing the door she took a moment to look back at Penny through the observation window and stick her tongue out at the bobcat.

Jim gave a laugh, and then started up his personal playlist, and the heavy base of Dr. Feelgood soon filled the lab. Yes it was a bit on the nose for the situation, but he made his way to his bench with a bit more of a spring in his step. Looking over his notes, he moved to retrieve the latest blood samples, and started to dig into the variations contained within. Haematology was his passion, and these samples were particularly interesting to him. The erythrocytes from the castor hybrid were uniquely convex in shape, and determining the cause might explain the reduced oxygen carrying capacity of the cells relative to the parental type.

Being called a professor might be something new, but if anything it meant that he was more justified in spending his time down here. He smiled as he thought about what Doug and Laura might think of that particular line of reasoning, but it was worth a try.

* * *

 

Laura had just bribed the security guard to forward the video from the elevator to her later on tonight and had made her way to the staff lounge for a quick snack. She had almost felt bad falling back on the stereotype, but a box of doughnuts, and the location of her personal stash of coffee had been enough. The Centre did splurge on its staff, but there was coffee, and then there was _coffee_. Fresh roasted to a perfect dark, and replenished every week from a little shop in the Rainforest District. It was her one true vice…even more than the chocolate, although she had to be careful with both, as they could be quite toxic to her.

Both were a special treat " _And let's face it. Life wouldn't be worth living without them."_ She thought as the aroma from the French press in front of her made its way to her nose. The temptation to push the plunger down and pour herself a cup was almost overwhelming, but greatness couldn't be rushed. This brew still needed 135 seconds, and that was what she was going to give it.

Just over 2 minutes later, she was holding the steaming mug up to her muzzle, and the almost too hot to drink liquid coated her tongue. It was all part of the experience though.

…That experience however was marred by a vibration from her coat pocket, and with a resigned sigh, she retrieved her phone and looked at the message.

"Physician on call report to room 203." Was all the text said and Laura's heart fell when she read it. She automatically dumped the coffee down the sink and ran out of the lounge and headed for the stairs. There was only one patient in the Centre, and from her exam previously, there would be only one reason for the message.

Ms. Robins was haemorrhaging again.

* * *

 

She sprinted to the patient's room and found that both Kate and Laika Hunter were already there. The otter nurse was also the ultrasound technician for the night shift, and she was already working on a new set of images when Laura entered.

"What do you have Ms. Hunter?" She asked, removing the stethoscope from around her neck and quickly checking the much smaller rat's vitals. Her pulse was rapid, but strong, which was a good sign.

"It looks like Grant was right Dr. Pawson. It's almost certain that it's a placental accrete at this stage. I already asked Oliver to scrub in and start prepping the OR." She handed over the first couple of printouts, and Laura frowned at what it showed. The uterus was filled with fluid, and judging from the gynecological bleeding, they'd need to go in and perform a hysterectomy immediately.

From the initial ultrasounds from yesterday, they had known that there was a chance that this might happen. The condition resulted from instances where the vasculature of the placenta grew too deeply into the uterine wall. After birth, or a miscarriage in this case, when the placenta was shed, it acted like removing the cork from a bottle of Champaign. It was rare, but happened with enough frequency that Cat had had a chance to prepare Ms. Robins for the possibility.

She looked down at her patient, and forced a small smile onto her muzzle. "I'm sorry Mary, but it looks like Dr. Willows was correct. We're going to need to go in stop the bleeding." She put her paw on Mr. Robins' shoulder. "We'll try to stop it without having to remove the uterus, but the odds are almost certain that we'll need to remove it fully to save you."

The rat nodded in understanding but there were tears in her eyes as Laura gave voice to the fear she had been living with since the first exam at the Centre. "I understand Dr. Pawson." She looked over to Kate, who had spent most of the previous evening with her. "Can you call my husband? He should be here."

Kate also had a false smile on her muzzle, but she nodded her head. "I already called him Ms. Robins. He'll be here within the hour."

Laura nodded at the news, and once again gave a smile to her patient. "If all goes well, you'll be almost done when he gets here." She motioned for Kate to start getting Ms. Robins ready for the OR. "Page Dr. Cerval and tell him we need him up here ASAP."

Motioning for Laika to follow her, she headed down the hall towards the surgical suite. "How much blood has she lost?" She asked, as she entered into the adjoining room and removing her lab coat and scrubs before donning a set of single use scrubs, and starting to vigorously scrub her paws and arms at the scrub sink.

Laika placed a hood over Laura's head and a muzzle mask on her before doing likewise on herself, and joined the ferret at the scrub sink to clean her arms. "About 15-20cc so far by our estimation." She replied.

Laura nodded at this, and looked through the observation window into the operating suite. The room's only occupant was a fully gowned arctic fox, laying out sealed trays of instruments beside the operating table. "Oliver, make sure we have 1 unit of type O _Rattus_ ready to go." It was more than they'd need, unless things went particularly bad, but it was better to have too much on paw than too little. Ms. Robins had already lost close to 15% of her blood volume since the previous evening, and would be starting to exhibit signs of hypovolemia soon. She'd need a top off at least during the surgery, as there was probably internal bleeding they hadn't accounted for.

Oliver pointed to the IV stand, where a single bright red bag could be seen among the various drips and medications that they might require. "There's one ready to go, but not tapped yet, and I also have two units of Hemopure if it's needed."

"OK, Oliver get Laika and I gowned up and then help Jim when he comes in. For a mammal this small, I'm not going in until he's here." All the mammals at the Centre wore many hats, but only Jim and Doug were certified anaesthesiologists in addition to being OBGYNs. With a mammal as small as a rat, she'd prefer to use a general anaesthetic as opposed to a spinal block. It was almost always touchy with rodents, and she knew that Jim would be glued to her vitals for the entire procedure. In addition to managing the sedation, hypothermia was a real risk for small mammals when they were placed under, and she'd have her paws full with the actual hysterectomy.

" _I'll have enough to deal with without worrying about that."_ She thought to herself and she finished scrubbing her paws and backed into the operating suite. Oliver had a sterile towel waiting for her, and she dried off as much of the water off of her fur as she could before placing her arms into the UV fur dryer. Hot dry air, and a harsh blue light could be felt and seen as the final dregs of moisture were removed.

"Uggh, that's always murder on my skin." She said to Oliver when she turned around, and extended her arms through the sleeves of the gown he was holding up for her. After wrangling the two layers of gloves on, she performed the final tie on her gown and waited for everyone else to arrive.

Oliver gave a laugh at her comment. "I just use it as an excuse for a regular spa day. Just relax and zone out for the while these tired paws are pampered back to life." He said flourishing his paws, but keeping them from touching, or from moving outside his chest area. "Brad thinks of it as a major perk of me having this gig."

"Mmmmm that would be nice." Laura replied, her voice taking on an almost wistful tone. Giving herself a shake, she brought her mind back to the task at paw…well as much as she could without the patient being there yet.

* * *

 

Jim had rushed out of the lab as quickly as he could, and had cursed the speed of the fur dryer. He didn't even bother with scrubs, and ran upstairs clad in nothing more than his lab coat and a pair of boxers underneath.

Kate and Ms. Robins were already in the hallway outside of the OR when he met up with them. "Hello Ms. Robins. Do you have any questions before we go in?"

The rat gave a shake of her head, and to give her credit, she had already been informed about this possibility. Jim didn't voice his own disappointment at the situation, as things had looked promising when he had last checked in on her. The bleeding had appeared to stop in the early morning hours, but now it appeared that it had merely been a delay, possibly caused by a clot forming in the uterus itself. Regardless, they were out of options.

Jim checked over her chart and then had Ms. Robins move her head this way and that. With mammals this size, he preferred to use a positive pressure ventilator as opposed to attempting to intubate them. The small diameter of the trachea made it difficult to place, and there was a greater chance for abrasions and inflammation to the delicate airway.

After checking over her vitals, and double checking her weight he looked up at the bison who was already reading his mind apparently and reaching for the medication cart that had been brought with them. "Kate, we're going to need a 10/1mg mix of ketamine and diazepam." Looking down at his patient he gave what he hoped would be an encouraging smile. "This is just going to help you relax a bit. From there we're going to take you into the OR. Once we're ready to go, I'll ask you to start counting down from 100. You'll start to feel lightheaded and there will be a bit of an odd smell to the air, but that's normal. Just breathe normally, and don't try to fight it. We'll have you patched up in no time"

Kate handed him a syringe with a seemingly insignificant amount of liquid inside, but it was just the amount needed. "A quick pinch here." He said as he injected the drugs into the muscle of her thigh. Using an intramuscular injection was again preferred for small mammals, as the volume of IV fluids used needed to be carefully monitored, and he was fairly certain that at least some of that volume would be taken up by a partial transfusion.

He put on his stethoscope and listened to the rat's heartbeat. A genuine smile crested his muzzle when, in addition to the rapid beating of her heart, he also heard a much louder but more welcome sound. "Oooh, that's nice." Ms. Robins said quietly and her gaze had taken on a more distant look.

Kate's rumbling laugh came from behind him. "Don't get too attached Mary. You only get one trip here."

Jim also had to chuckle at the long running joke around this part of his profession. Quite a few of the medications in his cart also had…alternate uses among the citizens of Zootopia. A big part of his job was ensuring that his patients received only enough to help them. Ms. Robins' current mental voyage was a low risk one from an addiction standpoint. The more pressing concern for him and the rest of the staff were the drugs used to manage postoperative pain.

Regardless, he was satisfied that she was responding as expected and he motioned for Kate to wheel her in while he dashed over to the adjoining room to actually put some scrubs on and get prepped himself. Through the observation window he could see that Laura had things in good order, and the ferret gave him an odd glance as he removed his coat, and saw that he was, from her perspective at least, naked.

Kate and Ms. Robins arrived a few moments later, and the bison helped move the much smaller rodent to the table afterwards she quickly left so as to maintain the sterile environment as much as possible. Laura, Oliver, and Laika went about getting the patient ready, and all of were hiding smiles behind their masks as Mary was quietly humming to herself a rather jaunty tune that they couldn't place.

"Jim does good work." Laura commented and Oliver nodded in agreement as he checked over the IV line. It was currently just a saline drip, but that would probably change very quickly. Laika was covering the patient with several blankets surrounding her already shaved abdomen.

Oliver was waiting for him to enter the OR proper, and as with the previous mammals, he had Jim gowned and ready to go in a matter of moments and Jim quickly made his way to the head of the table, and checked the monitoring equipment that would literally mean the difference between life and death. Anaesthesia was both an art and a science, and it was his job to ensure that Ms. Robins felt, and remembered nothing of the surgery, while keeping her alive and well.

He saw that the vaporizer had been prepped with Isoflurane, and he checked the flow rate and dialled it in for 4%. He looked to Laura who gave him a nod. "OK Ms. Robins, we're ready to get started. I just need you to relax and let us do the driving."

"Oh, I've got the relaxed part handled quite nicely." She replied, but there was some fear in her voice.

Jim tried to be a comforting as possible, as he fitted the mask over her muzzle. "Don't you worry. You're in the best paws and hooves in Zootopia." He started the flow of the anaesthetic and looked back at his patient. "Now start counting back from 100, nice and slow."

"100, 99, 98, 97,…96, …." Her voice trailed off and her eyes fluttered shut. Jim looked over at her vitals, and after a moment checked her pupils for reactivity, as well as muscle reflexes. He dialled back the anaesthetic to 2%, and gave Laura a nod. "She's out."

This was her show now, and the ferret wasted no time. "Betadine." She called for, and a soaked brush was placed in her paw. She liberally painted the rat's abdomen with the disinfectant, drawing a region far larger than what would actually be exposed during the surgery. Satisfied with her work, she took a deep breath to steady herself. "10 blade." As before the tool was placed in her paw and she moved to make the first incision.

* * *

 

The procedure itself was uncomplicated. A single incision across the abdomen opened the way for her. After parting the muscles of the abdominal wall, it was a simple matter to move the intervening organs out of the way to reach her goal.

The uterus itself was engorged, and even though she knew what would happen, she was a mammal of her word, and made an incision along the right uterine horn. The spurt of blood that followed told her all that she needed, and she was quick to act. "Fuck, nope we're not going to be able to keep it. Forceps!"

The scissor like instrument was placed in her paw, and she quickly used it to clamp the uterine artery closed. She called for another and another as the blood supply the the uterus was quickly cut off, but that to the ovaries was maintained. Given the condition of the tissue, this was going to have to be a total hysterectomy, but she could leave the ovaries intact. Ms. Robins wouldn't be able to carry a pup herself, but the option for surrogacy remained.

She also knew that it was a psychological support, and this mammal would need it. In less than 48 hours, she had lost a child, and now her ability to bear them. _"If I can help her through it; keep some aspect of this alive for her, it will be worth it."_ She thought to herself.

Jim must have been reading her thoughts, and now that the danger was passed, he spoke up. "This always sucks." He was succinct with his appraisal, that was certain. She didn't look at him but she knew where he was coming from.

"Do you ever think about what it would be like not having kids?" She asked. Most of the Centre staff had families of one kind or another, and dealing with so many mammals who desperately wanted offspring of their own sometimes made guilt bubble to the surface.

Jim gave a laugh as he adjusted the airflow slightly. "Medea just turned 13 Laura. Diana and I might have fantasized about that scenario a couple of times…daily, but no. I can't imagine not having them."

Laura shook her head at the comment. "Same here. Even with all the crap that Jack put us through, I can't imagine life without Will." She clamped off the end of the vagina, and proceeded to make the cuts to detach the uterus.

"I didn't say anything yet, but Brad and I just started the final paperwork to adopt Hailey." Oliver piped in from Laura's right.

Laika was the first to react. "Olly, why didn't you tell me?"

Laura looked over at the fox for a moment willing her eyes to show a false sense of anger. "Why is this the first I'm hearing of any of this? Jim did you know?"

The antelope shook his head and lifted his hooves in surrender. "Not a peep Laura. I knew about Hailey staying with them after the accident, but Mr. Wetmore has been keeping secrets I think."

Laura finished removing the damaged organ, and started to close off the various incisions, working her way back up through the tissue. "Olly, we are going to have a long talk after this is done. Keeping secrets from me?" She waved a bloodied digit in reproach, but remained focused on her patient.

Oliver made an audible gulp, and quietly went back to handing Laura the various instruments she requested.

* * *

 

The fox arrived at the Honeywell Centre shortly after 11. The building was quiet, and she quickly made her way to the front desk. The rat stationed there looked up as she approached and a smile was quick to form on his muzzle.

"Good evening and welcome to the Honeywell Centre. How can I help you?" Ed asked the question without a hint of trepidation, even knowing what normally brought mammals to this place.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Walfin. I asked two of my patients to come in immediately. Has a wolf and fox couple come in tonight?" She scanned the waiting room with both her eyes and her nose, but she couldn't detect either Tommy of Janet with either sense.

Ed shook his head and he checked the computer in case Natalie had forgotten to mention any new arrivals. When he verified that no such couple had checked in yet he again shook his head at the fox. "I'm sorry Dr. Walfin, we haven't had anyone come in."

Tess, rubbed her temple in agitation. She knew that the Rey's lived out in the Rainforest District, and that it would probably take them longer than her to reach the Centre than her own drive from Tundratown, but her apprehension made logic a difficult thing to focus on.

"Can you page the attending physician? They'll need to be seen as soon as possible. I already sent over their charts, and I have hard copies if you didn't get them." She asked, and retrieved the folders from her purse.

"Both Drs. Pawson and Cerval are in surgery right now. I can check with the desk nurse and get an ETA if that will help?" He asked and reached for the small phone on his desk.

"Please." She replied and took out her phone to check for any messages. Finding none, she gave a small growl of annoyance, but checked herself and took a deep breath. _"They'll be here. You just need to be patient."_ She thought to herself, but her right hind paw started tapping against the floor on its own accord.

* * *

 

The remainder of the surgery had wrapped up with textbook efficiency. With the removal of the anaesthetic Ms. Robins had been breathing on her own within 20 minutes, and would be waking up fully within another 30.

Kate had been waiting for Laura and he once they had Ms. Robins settled for recovery.

"There's a Dr. Walfin down in reception, and she forwarded some charts for us while you were in surgery." Kate handed over the printouts to Laura who was already reaching for them. "We're still waiting for them to arrive, but she thought you'd want to see those ASAP."

Laura's eyebrows rose as she read through the information and passed over the first chart to Jim when she finished. Jim flipped through the basics, but also paused when he reached the more recent tests. "Are we sure this is correct?" He asked pointing to the results from the hormone and antibody titres.

Laura didn't look up from the second chart. "Check the next page, she had them run it twice. Both tests show the same thing."

Jim gave a low whistle as the implications from the various tests sunk in. "Kate, I want Ms. Rey taken into exam 1 as soon as she arrives." Looking over to Laura he gave voice to what they both were thinking. "This can't be real Laura."

"Normally not a chance in Hell," Laura replied, "but take a look at this." She handed over what Jim saw was the husband's chart, and he could see that Mr. Rey was equally puzzling. His coloration, had been diagnosed as simple heterochromia when he was a kit, but Dr. Walfin had made several notes that she didn't agree with that diagnosis. It appeared as though she had requested genetic testing, but the patient's insurance had denied to cover the costs, as there was no underlying medical need.

From the included pictures, Jim could see where she was coming from. This wasn't the usual patterning that was seen with mammals exhibiting heterochromia, this was far more chaotic, and extended to every visible portion of his anatomy. Even the mucosal membranes showed similar melanistic patterning, and his eyes! _"Every color of the rainbow."_ He thought to himself. He had never seen that degree of color variation in a single individual.

"OK, Laura there's something going on here, but still, this says that he's a red fox, regardless of his coloration. He's genetically incompatible with Ms. Rey." He said, shaking his head.

"Look at the antibodies in her system Jim. She's producing a lot of anti-fox IgG. I mean a lot." She pointed out the numbers again, and Jim had to agree, but he still shook his head slightly.

"Ummm, they are a couple Laura, and there are other ways that she could be exposed to fox antigens." He added, with an amused edge to his voice.

The ferret threw him a scathing look before replying. "What are you, 12? Yes they're a couple, and" she motioned with her paw towards Ms. Rey's chart "it's obvious that they're sexually active, but look at the numbers Jim! They'd need to be engaging in every position and act possible…and probably some that are _impossible_ at all times to have titres that high. Spirits she'd need to be eating a diet composed solely of fox to come even close."

"Well there's a mental image I didn't need." Jim said, shaking his head, and all 3 mammals had a short laugh at the events.

Jim looked at his watch and looked back to Laura. "If you can keep an eye on Ms. Robins, I'll start getting these two checked out when they arrive. You need to get home soon or I know your mother will have a fit."

Laura wrinkled her muzzle at the thought. "I'm still trying to find a competent babysitter who'll stay that late every night." She handed over the charts and started heading towards Ms. Robins' room. "Thanks Jim. If it's something interesting send me a text."

"I will." Noticing something he called out. "Laura, you might want to change your scrubs."

Laura paused and looked over her front. "What? Why?"

"Back of the right leg." He called out and Laura tugged on the fabric until the tell-tale drops of blood were visible.

Nodding her thanks, she made a beeline for the supply closet. It wouldn't do to welcome a patient back to consciousness while spotted with their own blood, now would it?

"Kate, is Mr. Robins here?" He asked the buffalo, wanting to make sure that the husband was aware that everything went fine and that he could join her shortly.

"He's in the waiting room." She replied motioning towards the room with her hoof.

"I'll go fill him in, and then take him in to see his wife. Afterwards, I'll need you and Laika downstairs for when the Rey's arrive. We'll need a full workup on both of them, and I want Mr. Rey's samples put at the front of the line for karyotyping. Percy or Penny can take care of it, but I want these samples processed ASAP." He listed off the various tests that would be required, and made several notes in the patients' charts.

It wasn't normal to prep these things before seeing the patient, but if the tests ordered by Dr. Walfin were accurate, they were going to need to move quickly. _"Even then,"_ he thought _"I have no idea how this is possible, let alone what we can do to help."_

* * *

 

Tess was pacing back and forth in the waiting room when her ears twitched at the sound of a car pulling into the parking lot outside. She padded over to the door and sighed with relief when she saw Janet and Tommy get out of their vehicle. She was waiting just inside when they arrived, and motioned for them to follow her.

"I'm glad you made it in Janet, and I'm sorry for being evasive on the phone, but that really wasn't sure how you should find out about this." She said as they arrived at the reception desk. Ed had already input their information into the system, and quickly double checked it with them. When Janet pulled out her insurance card, the rat waved it away.

"You won't need that here." Looking to Dr. Walfin Ed continued "I just got a message that Dr. Cerval's on his way down and that Nurse Uddington will be here shortly to take you inside."

As soon as he finished the sentence, the rear doors opened and the towering bison made her way towards them. She had a smile on her muzzle as she greeted the assembled mammals. "Ms. and Mr. Rey, Dr. Walfin? If you would follow me, We'll get you settled in."

The trio of predators followed the nurse who directed them to one of the exam rooms. "I'll just stay outside for now. Janet, Tommy, you'll both probably need to get undressed, and somehow I don't think an audience for that would be appreciated." Dr. Walfin said and leaned against the far wall while Janet and Tommy laughed and made their way inside.

Tess noted that the nurse quickly exited the room, probably to give the couple some privacy, but also immediately retrieved a series of sample vials and swabs. "Would you mind if I took care of that." She asked Ms. Uddington. "Tommy, I mean Mr. Rey gets quite agitated around needles. With Ms. Rey there it won't be too bad, but he'll be calmer if it's someone he knows."

Kate looked slightly askance at her, but nodded her head and offered the tray to Tess. She knocked on the door to the exam room and let herself in. She could see that both her patients had wasted no time in donning the standard, if rather flimsy exam gowns, and were now sharing a seat on the exam table with Janet holding onto Tommy as he buried his face into her chest. She could see that he was shaking slightly, and she could smell the fear coming off of him in waves.

"Hey Tommy, don't worry. The mammals here are the best that there is. You don't have to be scared." Tess tried to sound calm, and she saw that the fox did look towards her. He seemed to calm slightly until he also noticed the tray she was holding. Then his head turned back and pressed more firmly into Janet's chest.

"No, no, no, no needles. Please no needles." She heard him quietly cry out.

Janet was the one to reply though. "Tommy, Dr. Walfin wouldn't be asking for this if she didn't need it. She knows you hate needles." She placed her paws on either side of her mate's face and directed his gaze up to her. "Just keep your eyes on me, OK. Deep breaths, now. In." She inhaled herself and her mate followed suit "and out."

Tess gave them a moment to set up a pattern and used the time to don a pair of gloves. She then gently took Tommy's right arm and felt him tense at the contact, but she maintained a gentle grip as she then wrapped the band around his upper arm to increase the visibility of his veins. She worked quickly and after dousing the region with alcohol she inserted the needle.

He gave a small whimper, but Janet was right there keeping his focus on her. Tess filled the vials and then removed the needle, pressing down with a cotton ball against the small puncture wound. "That's it Tommy. All done for now."

There was a knock at the door, and Tess looked over to see an antelope enter. He had a somewhat perplexed look on his face as he saw her organizing the sample tubes. She finished writing down the appropriate information and then rose to meet him, stripping off the exam gloves as she did. "My apologies Dr. Cerval. I'm Tess Walfin, and this is Janet and Tommy Rey. Tommy has a rather strong fear of needles, and having me collect the samples made it much easier on him. Sorry if I stepped on any hooves."

Jim gave a nod in understanding, and offered his hoof to each of the mammals in turn. "That's quite alright Dr. Walfin and I understand completely." Looking over at his new patients he continued. "As you've probably guessed, I'm Dr. Cerval" After shaking their paws, he moved to the sink to wash up, but looked back over his shoulder to Tess. "Did you also take care of the cheek swabs?"

She shook her head. "No those won't be a problem, and neither will Ms. Rey." She said looking sternly at the larger wolf. "Janet, did you or Tommy want me to stay? You're in good paws…well hooves here. I'll just be a third wheel now, but I wanted to make sure you were both settled."

"We're OK Dr. Walfin. Thank you for coming in." Janet replied, still holding onto Tommy.

Tess was pleased to see that Tommy's shaking had subsided, but he was still radiating fear. She wasn't sure if the antelope could smell it, but she was certain he recognized the body language for what it was. She reached into her pocket and withdrew her business card and quickly jotted down some additional numbers where she could be reached at.

Handing the card over to Janet, she paused before placing a paw on Tommy's shoulder. "Tommy, you take care of her. You hear me?"

The other fox seemed confused for a moment. It was Janet who took care of him, not the other way around, but the meaning did dawn on him shortly, and he nodded to the doctor. "I will Dr. Walfin." He said and even managed to sit up a bit straighter, but still in constant contact with Janet.

"Goodnight doctor." Janet added, to which Tess nodded her head.

Catching Dr. Cerval's attention she added. "When does Dr. Hawthorne come on shift?"

Jim was surprised, but then the connection was made in his mind. "Oh, you're that Dr. Walfin." He had a small chuckle before replying. "Dr. Hawthorne's normally handles the 7-7 shift, so he'll be in first thing in the morning. Did you want him to be their primary for now?"

"If possible, yes, but really I just want to be able to touch base with someone I know, and keep tabs on these two." She added with a smile. "Just let him know that I'll be in touch tomorrow."

"No problem. I'll let him know." Jim answered and then turned back to his patients.

Knowing that she couldn't really contribute any further, Tess made her exit, already making notes and reminders on her smartphone.

* * *

 

Jim sighed after completing the initial exams on Tommy and Janet. The preliminary blood work had confirmed everything that Dr. Walfin had suspected, and he had started Ms. Rey on IgG therapy to deal with the possible haemolytic incompatibility.

From his questions, he knew that she had only been pregnant for a couple of weeks at most, so they were stuck waiting for some of the initial genetic screens to come back before they moved forward with any kind of plan. He knew that they'd need to get the fetus' genome sequenced as soon as possible, but amniocentesis at this stage of pregnancy was risky to the extreme.

"Too many questions. Not enough answers." He said to himself as he made his way up to the second floor. He had a feeling that Mr. Rey would be the key to this. There was obviously several genetic disorders present, but what they could be and their underlying cause were still elusive. That he had an intellectual disability was obvious, but he was remarkably high functioning, and lacking many of the normal physiological signs normally associated with those disorders.

He knew that it would take the lab a couple of hours to get the karyotype worked out, and over a day to get a preliminary genome assembly done, but hopefully they'd be able to start getting some answers soon…even if it did point to something like infidelity.

It always pained him to consider the possibility, but it was the most likely situation here. Ms. Rey was pregnant, there was no sign of an ovarian cyst, or any other cause for her symptoms, but the fact remained that she had 78 chromosomes, and Mr. Rey had 34…plus a few microchromosomes. _"Well he probably has that many."_ He mused internally as he arrived at the room that they had been assigned.

Kate had taken them upstairs to one of the private rooms so that they could hopefully get some rest, and he needed to check in on both them and Ms. Robins. Laura had headed home about a half hour ago, but had messaged him that she had come out of sedation right on schedule and was now resting comfortably…helped along by a morphine drip and the presence of her husband.

He would look in on the Robins shortly, but for now he quietly made his way into the Rey's room. As he had expected from his brief meeting with the couple, two beds hadn't been needed, and Mr. Rey was sleeping with his head pillowed on his mate's chest.

Ms. Rey wasn't asleep yet, and she held up a digit to her muzzle from her free arm, asking Jim to let her husband rest without a sound. He nodded, and quickly checked the instruments hooked up to both mammals and gave her a nod before making his way out of the room. He had wanted to ask her if the anti-nausea medication was working, but he was certain she would let him know, one way or another. At least they had a reason for the abdominal pain worked out, and that shouldn't be an issue any longer.

After checking in with Ms and Mr Robins, he made his way to one of the workstations on the same floor. Kate was manning the 1st floor station, and both Oliver and Laika were taking care of the 2nd floor so things would be pretty much under control, and he wanted to be close to his patients.

Looking at the clock, he could see that it was just past 1. "Hopefully it will be a boring night." He thought to himself as he brought up the results from his transcriptome sequencing, and started parsing the data. At least he could lose himself in this until the other shoe decided to drop.

* * *

 

It was just past 3:30 when it finally did. A message popped up on his screen indicating that Percy wanted to have a video conference. Jim accepted the invite, and a window opened up showing the zebra, still in full protective gear.

"Jim, we just finished the preliminary karyotype on Mr. and Ms. Rey. You need to see this." His arm moved and the image changed to show a light micrograph of the chromatin. At first Jim thought that he was looking at Ms. Rey, but then he noticed the discrepancies.

"Percy, what am I looking at?" Even as he said the words, the answer came to him. "How the fuck is he alive?"

Percy's face returned to the screen, and the cell image moved itself to the lower corner. "I don't have an answer for that Jim, but he obviously is alive, and he's a tetraploid. I've never seen anything like it." He shook his head again, and then continued. "It gets even weirder Jim."

Percy brought up another image, and this time Jim recognized it as that of a normal red fox. Another image of Mr. Rey's chromosome were overlaid and once again Jim struggled to understand what he was seeing.

"It's like someone took a hammer to some of his chromosomes and just put the pieces together at random." Percy said. "We'll need to do a complete re-sequencing of his genome to even begin to sort this out, but look here."

He circled 5 of the chromosome pairs, and Jim struggled to match them up with their counterparts from the normal fox sample without success. He was about to ask for a hint, when the banding pattern caught his eye. "That's fucking impossible Percy!"

The zebra couldn't help but chuckle. "You need to find a more original saying Jim. Penny's done nothing but mumble that since the results started coming in."

Jim shook his head. "Not one but 5 microchromosomal fusions! I can't even begin to figure out the odds of that."

"I don't think it was spontaneous Jim." He replied, and moved each 'novel' chromosome (they couldn't be called microchromosomes any longer) into two sets. "We know that the _Vulpes vulpes_ microchromosomes are less picky when it comes to pairing up, and my guess is that this comes from both his parents."

Jim hurried to look up the information Mr. and Ms. Rey had provided and cursed quietly. "Shit! Both of his parents have been dead for a decade, and he has no siblings. We've got all the genetic background information we're going to get on this one." He rested his forehead on his hoof and tried to parse all this information.

Shaking his head he couldn't find the answers he needed. Looking back at the screen he continued "We need to get everyone in here ASAP. You call the lab staff, particularly Beth, Genevieve, and Donny. For now I'm guessing that Penny's started a full _de novo_ sequencing run on Mr. Rey?"

Percy nodded his head. "It was the first thing she thought of as well. We'll need Donny to work up the assembly algorithms though. We don't have anything that's optimized for polyploid individuals."

Jim nodded his head. "I know, but that run will take a full day to complete regardless, so he has time. I'll call Doug, Cat, Dave…and Jason. We'll let Laura get a bit of sleep before dragging her back in though."

Percy closed the various windows littering the screen. "I had the same thought. Hopefully we'll be able to get everyone here in a couple of hours." He closed the connection and Jim reached for his phone.

* * *

 

The buzzing of his phone was an unwelcome intrusion into what little sleep he had managed to glean. He carefully released his hold on his mate and reached for the offending device, fully intent on smashing it against the wall. He only paused when he saw that it was Jim's number on display, and a sense of dread filled him.

Pressing the accept button he turned away from Carol, although the odds that she'd sleep through the disturbance were almost nil. "Jim? This really isn't a good time." He said, stating the obvious. It was almost 4AM, and the previous evening had not gone well to say the least. He had just held onto Carol for seemingly hours, as he tried to provide comfort and support. Sleep had only claimed her a couple of hours ago, and her dreams had been fierce and violent. He knew that he would be sporting several bruises, but nothing would have made him let go of her. The memories would not claim her from him. She was his and he was hers, and that thought was still a fire burning within him.

"I'm sorry Dave, but there's a situation at the Centre. We need everyone to come in ASAP." Dave knew that Jim was agitated, but so was he. "There's a real possibility that we're looking at a _Vulpes_ - _Canis_ hybrid, but to say that the genetics are weird is an understatement."

Dave barely heard the reasoning, and it was all he could do not to growl at his friend. "I can't Jim. Carol…there was an issue at ZFB Baden yesterday, and I can't leave her."

"Dave." The voice behind him was quiet, and he closed his eyes for a moment before turning to face her.

Even in the dim light projected by his phone he could still see the wetness of the fur surrounding her eyes, and the sight sent another stab of pain through his heart. She tried to smile for him, but her eyes told a different tale. "Dave, you need to go." She said simply.

Jim must have heard the conversation over the phone, as he remained silent. "I'm not leaving you Carol." He said to her as he brought his muzzle alongside hers and gently chinned her. Once again offering what little support he could.

This time there was the sound of a genuine laugh from his mate, and he moved back in surprise. The gaze that he met was full of love, and she reached out a paw to cup his cheek as the both lay facing each other. "Jim wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important, and I knew when I fell for you what kind of mammal I was dealing with." She moved in and gave him a small peck on the muzzle. "You were there for me when I needed you, and now someone else does as well. Just be back here tonight. I…I'm going to need your help with something."

"Are you sure Carol?" He asked. A large part of him wanted her to say no, but he would be lying if there wasn't a small part of him that wanted, no _needed_ to go.

Carol nodded. "I'm not going to lie to you and say that I'm fine. I'm not, I'm really not, but you helped me get to a point where I can say that _I will be OK_." She once again reached out to him and he took her paw in his free one. "Lift up the phone for a second." She told him, and he directed it towards her.

"Jim, if this isn't life or death, I don't care how _civilized_ we're supposed to have become; I'm putting venison back on the menu. Is that clear?" She asked, and Dave had to bite his tongue to not laugh.

"Uhhh...crystal clear Carol." Jim's voice called out hesitantly from the phone.

Dave returned the phone to his ear. "I'll be in as soon as I can Jim."

"Thanks Dave, and this really is important. See you in a bit." Jim said before disconnecting the call.

Dave tossed the phone back on the nightstand, and turned back to face his mate. There was now a real smile on both their muzzles, which was already something he hadn't considered as a possibility 5 minutes ago. "There's the coyote I love again. Uttering death threats to my closest friends without missing a beat."

Carol laughed and moved in for a kiss before coyly replying. "Who said it was a threat? That was a promise, and when I explain why her husband's life is forfeit, Diana will probably hand me the knife." She pushed him away and sat up, stretching her arms above her head.

"You don't need to get up." Dave said. "We don't both need to suffer today."

Carol shook her head in reply. "I'm not going to be able to sleep any more tonight. I'll just head into the salle early and go for a long run. There's a group of ZAF brass who meets at 5 for a morning run, and I'll join up with them…and if Taft is there I'm going to tear a strip off of his hide for yesterday."

Dave couldn't help but give a soft growl when he heard the anger in Carol's voice, but he knew Captain Taft well enough to know that there was no way that he'd have sent Carol out there if he'd known the details. "John couldn't have known the details Carol."

She gave a slight chuckle at that. "I know that Dave, but I'm still allowed to be pissed at him. When has 'rational' ever been strongly associated with me?"

Dave smiled and reached over to pull her into an embrace. "You sure you'll be OK for the rest of the day?" He asked, not wanting to let her go.

"Oh the scheduling worked out just fine for me." She said, and there was that malicious twinkle in her eyes when he looked down at her. "Most of the afternoon is booked for a session with the 'Black Bag Boys', and I'm basically obligated to kick each and every one of their asses…repeatedly."

Dave gave an involuntary shudder at the mention of the group. They were ZAF personnel, but that was literally all he knew. He had only run into them once when they were leaving the studio. All of them were covered from head to toe in matching black uniforms bereft of any unit patches or rank insignia, with several of them openly limping out of the salle. This in and of itself wasn't that odd, but there was also the fact that each of them were figuratively swimming in Musk Mask. Aside from basic species descriptions they were an enigma…and one he didn't really want to solve.

Carol enjoyed their visits though. They were among the few mammals where she was expected to fully cut loose on and pull no punches. Judging from the blood that had spattered the floor when he went in afterwards, she took those orders seriously, as he could tell from the smell that none of it was hers.

"Just be careful hon. You know those guys gave me the creeps." He told her before resigning himself to the inevitable and getting out of bed.

Carol did likewise and made her way to him, pulling his head down into another kiss. There was still sadness in her eyes when she pulled back, but it was a pale shadow of what had been there the night before. "I will…and remember what I said. I'm going to need your help tonight so don't keep me waiting." She released him and made her way to the ensuite. Looking back over her shoulder she called out. "Well are you joining me or what?"

He laughed and made to follow her, as he would anywhere.

* * *

 

**Random Musings**

Due to this being so late, I'm going to take the easy way out, and use the topic of my latest Reddit Science Discussion Thread for my musings this week. The topic was Public Health in Zootopia, and in particular how would communicable diseases and zoonoses be handled.

In a society as mixed as Zootopia, the control of communicable diseases would be a major effort for public health agencies. Having so many species living in close proximity dramatically increases the risks of zoonosis (having a disease jump species lines). Epidemics would be extremely complicated, as there would be large segments of the population that would be utterly unaffected, while individual species might be utterly decimated.

In the case of zoonotic transfer, the probability of resistance in the new host species is much lower than in the carrier species. In fact, some diseases are non-pathogenic in the natural host, but when they transfer to a new species they can be devastating. Just one example from our world is the Ebola virus, which can have fatality rates as high as 98% for some of the exceptionally virulent strains. Although the natural reservoir has not been conclusively identified, it has been detected in several species of fruit bat, who are utterly unaffected by the virus.

As a result of this, I'm of the belief that an aggressive vaccination policy would be in place throughout Zootopia. The best chance to limit the spread of a pathogen is to ensure that the population has a high level of immunity. The best way to ensure this with a high degree of safety is to have regular vaccinations an integral part of the social structure.

**Some thoughts:**

**1.** I can't imagine that anything other than medical exemptions would be granted. Quite simply the risks are so much higher than what we deal with that they really cannot allow vaccination levels for the most dangerous pathogens drop below 95%.

There would be far more research devoted to vaccine development, but also additional resources put towards the epidemiology side of things. Detecting outbreaks quickly and accurately would be essential.

**2.** This is also one area where species like foxes and other "lower" social species would probably make out OK. Many of these species are close relatives of other species that have more social standing. Once again, the risk of having ANY group go unvaccinated is simply too much.

**3.** There would probably be a regimented series of annual and occasional vaccines, starting shortly after birth and continuing throughout the lives of each individual. This would also include regular boosters every few years, mainly depending on the memory B cell (or equivalent) longevity.

**4.** The odds are that this policy would only exist for diseases that are considered to be a real risk. Other diseases may well have vaccines, but they might not be covered by the public dime.

This of course raises questions about vaccine testing and the like, and let's face it, that's a big question for their society. If all mammalian species are sentient, then their use during pre-clinical testing is an ethical nightmare, but if they aren't the closest analogue that they'll have are either _in vitro_ cell cultures, _in silico_ models, or using avian species.

None of these are as good as using a whole mammalian model, and as we covered earlier, the number of species in Zootopia means that the concentration of resources that we've capitalized on may not be the case.

Anyways, I'll cut that off for now, but I will be returning to this topic.

Also, for those who are interested, the 4th Science Discussion Thread will be happening this Saturday Dec 17th at 12:00 noon EST on the Zootopia SubReddit. Feel free to drop by and ask any questions you might have. The topic this time around is one I know I'm going to regret:

**Family Planning in Zootopia: How to Prevent a Bunnyburrow Situation in the City**

Every fiber of my being tells me that this is a huge mistake, but it was the single most requested topic.

* * *

 

Enough of that, it's **Science Time!**

There were a bunch of medical and scientific terminology thrown at you in this chapter, and hopefully I'll remember all of them. If you're still unsure about anything, just ask for clarification.

**Dissociative Seizure:** Sometimes also referred to as Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), these are a class of non-epileptic seizures and are generally regarded as being triggered by psychological problems. According to some researchers, they are the result of a general 'misfiring' in the brain brought about by extreme or prolonged stress. As opposed to epileptic seizures, there is rarely an underlying medical condition, and after diagnosis, psychotherapy and not medication is the preferred treatment regime (although anticonvulsants can be used in conjunction).

**Ruminant Oddities:** This is less an individual fact, and more a general observation. Although, from outward appearance, you might assume that antelopes are in the same group as deer (Cervidae), in fact they are classed as part of Bovidae (cows and bisons). Aside from the Barbary Red Deer, there are no Cervidae in Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, even though they are classed as Bovidae, the meat from antelopes is referred to as venison.

**Methylene Blue:** This is a common stain used in biology for a wide variety of imaging uses, but is also used as a treatment for conditions like hypotension, psoriasis, methemoglobinemia, and even for cyanide poisoning. In addition to this, when taken orally, it is rather quickly excreted out in the urine and has the effect of turning it a rather vibrant blue. Obviously, this is not a natural color that people expect, and an old grad/med school prank has involved spiking someone's coffee with it (coffee masks the bitter taste).

**DO NOT DO THIS!** Although it is normally safe, methylene blue can interact with a variety of other medications, and the complications can be life threatening. I gave Laura a pass here because she'd know about the possible interactions.

**DVM:** In case you haven't come across this acronym before its Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Some of the concept work for Zootopia indicates that the role of an MD in our world is populated by DVMs.

**Haematology:** The study of blood and its components. This field covers everything from blood cell production, to clotting to oxygen delivery.

**Caffeine and Chocolate Toxicity:** For quite a few species in Zootopia, treats containing either caffeine or chocolate can be quite toxic. As is always the case, it's the dose that makes the poison though. The compound of note in chocolate is thiobromine, and it is found in MUCH higher concentrations in dark chocolate. Even then, a canine the size of Dave (80kg) would be just fine eating an entire bar of dark chocolate...just not every day. For smaller mammals, milk chocolate or white chocolate are safer options, but even someone as small as Laura could have a square or two of dark chocolate without issue.

It's the same thing for caffeine. Many mammalian species are more sensitive to caffeine than humans, but even then, acute toxicity wouldn't be an issue unless they were consuming multiple large doses a day. Once again for smaller mammals, a cup or two (and I mean like a tea cup, not a big travel mug) would be completely fine.

**Blood Banking and Alternatives:** When you think about it, maintaining a blood bank in Zootopia would be a nightmare. Except for closely related species, whole blood cannot be shared between genera. As a result, hospitals and surgical clinics would need to keep a supply of ALL blood types...or at least the most likely ones to come in.

To counteract this, I'm of the opinion that research into blood substitutes would be far more advanced for their society. There are several classes of these drugs in development, but none have been found to be as good as whole blood...but then again, their purpose is more for when blood isn't available. The largest group are those based on artificial hemoglobin, and I picked the name of one real product...although not one currently on the market.

Other compunds that show great promise are perfluorocarbon based. This group actually has a couple of products authorized for use in humans...just not in the US or Canada (Mexico does allow the use of Perftoran, as does Russia). Perhaps more famously, this is also the class of compounds that have shown potential for "liquid breathing" systems. In media, the most famous use of this was in James Cameron's The Abyss.

That scene with the rat. That was real...and they kinda got in trouble for it, but the system works. Perfluorocarbons are capable of containing far more oxygen per unit of volume than blood, and when you drown, it's not due to the water per say, it's due to the low oxygen content of the water. Replace the water with a substance with an oxygen content comparable to air, and voila, you're breathing a liquid. There are issues dealing with viscosity and the associated additional effort on the lungs to move the fluid, but it does work.

There are some other possibilities, but they're really in the early stages. Hyperbranched polymers using porphyrin as an oxygen carrier have been proposed, but limited clinical work has been done.

**The UV Fur Dryer:** OK, everyone here who's tried to put on gloves with wet hands knows that it is HARD. When you are trying to maintain a sterile surface, and can't touch the outer surface of the gloves, it makes it a huge challenge. For humans, just using a towel is enough, but what about fur bearing mammals? I pictured a form of hot air dryer that would also use UVA to surface sanitize the fur prior to gowning up. The exposure wouldn't be enough to cause much skin damage, but the constant scrubbing and exposure would mean some kind of lotion would be in constant supply for physicians.

**Small Mammals and Hypothermia:** Have you ever seen the question "Would you rather face off against a horse sized duck, or 100 duck sized horses?" Well science ruins the fun of this greatly. A horse sized duck would collapse upon itself, as its skeleton is incapable of supporting so much mass even if increased to a proportionate size. On the other side of things 100 duck sized horses would die of hypothermia in short order. Smaller mammals need to spend a proportionately greater amount of energy to maintain their body temperature. It's easy to see why, the surface area to mass ratio is much larger for small mammals. Quite simply, the bigger the mammal, the more mass is INSIDE the animal as opposed to on or near the surface.

In something like surgery, metabolism is reduced greatly, this also means that those same small mammals will lose body heat at a faster rate than larger ones.

**IgG:** Immunoglobin G is the most common type of antibody produced by our immune system, and are generally produced from plasma B cells in response to a challenge from an antigen. As an antigen is any substance that can elicit an immune response...and that can include those from other species who have close contact with each other.

**Tetraploidy:** A condition where an organism (or even cells within an organism) have 4 copies of each chromosome. This is extremely rare, and is usually fatal in utero or shortly after birth. There have been reports of humans living for 2 years with the condition, but the developmental delays are quite severe. In most instances of this, the individual contains the full genome content of both parents, when normally they'd only receive 1 chromosome from each pair. Obviously this can cause issues, as our genomes are evolutionarily calibrated to having 2 copies of each chromosome. WHen you have the same gene present 4X, it can lead to expression issues where too much, or even too little expression is observed.

**Microchromosomes:** These are a feature that is quite common in birds, but rare in mammals. As the name suggests, they are chromosomes that are much smaller than the norm, usually 20 million base pairs. In a karyotype they are VERY difficult to distinguish, as the normal banding pattern that is used to identify the chromatin does not appear (too small to form). They are generally far more variable in the cell, and their number can vary from generation to generation.

**Chromosomal Fusion:** This is a major genetic event, and is usually quite rare however we are the result of one. The human chromosome 2 is the result of the fusion of the _Pan_ chromosome 2a and 2b. Quite literally, you can have 2 chromosomes link together end to end, or you can have one insert inside of another (even rarer and usually requires a smaller chromosome doing the insertion...like a microchromosome).

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I think that will do it for this installment. When the notes are included I've broken 17,000 words with this beast. My thanks to WildeNick for his help in editing this ever increasing monstrosity. Please show him some love and check out his story Three Months a Fox, and now the one-shot Muzzled Dissonance. Both stories are quite different from the usual Zootopia fare and have been a pleasure to work with.
> 
> I'd also like to call out Kittah4's Vixen's Mark for some attention. It's a side story/expansion of the Vixen stories from his Different Tales series(also using characters from SophieWitch). It covers a very serious topic involving surviving sexual assault, and how difficult healing can be. The addition of specisim from the Zootopia setting lends this tale a particularly gripping focus.
> 
> Observant readers will also note that I have (with permission) made use of some of the Celestials from his work (well only Karma so far). They represent one of the more...colorful pantheons out there, and made a wonderful addition to the Zootopia setting.
> 
> Finally, my congratulations to Cimar Tualis WildeHopps for completing his One Hundred Kisses series...well for now at least. It was a pleasure to contribute to this, and I will lament the loss of a steady source of fluff for when this story destroys me (and believe me, he's helped me sort through a couple of scenes that may top Chapter 3 for sadness in some upcoming chapters). Fortunately, he is not idle, and his Always My Sly Bunny, Always My Dumb Fox, and The Masked Fox are also excellent tales, and deserve a read.
> 
> My thanks to all of you for sticking with this tale...I'll try to be faster for the next chapter. One advantage of working in academia, I get a full week off over the Christmas holiday! Maybe I'll actually be able to do some writing.
> 
> Regardless, Happy Holidays to those who celebrate them!
> 
> Please let me know what you think of the story so far.
> 
> Eng050599


	9. Chapter 9: Fresh Wounds and Fading Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Disclaimer: This chapter includes some sexual content. Nothing explicit, as I've tried to make it more about the emotional connection between the two characters. It's short, but I hope that it manages to resonate with you. As a note, I don't foresee going any more explicit than this at any point in this story.
> 
> OK, with that over with…I'm sorry.
> 
> This one took almost 2 weeks longer to finish than I intended, but I hope you'll find it worth the wait. As with the previous chapter, it grew in the telling, and ended up being almost 17,000 words without my notes and thank you shout-outs.
> 
> As always, thank you to those who took the time to comment or leave a review after the last chapter.
> 
> From FanFiction
> 
> Chorpion: I'd be lying if I didn't admit that part of the comradery at the Centre was inspired, not only by real life examples, but also M*A*S*H. Having known a few military surgeons, they all indicated that when things were at their worst, the practical jokes became a source of solace…and torture. Good luck with your story BTW!
> 
> phantomreader42: I think chimeras are far creepier than being a tetraploid, and just to clarify, the banding that I was referring to is on the chromatin themselves.
> 
> SrCheese: The holiday went quite well, although I didn't get quite as much Lost Causes writing as I wanted. A real paper needed to be drafted before I could focus on it.
> 
> CimarTualisWildeHopps: As always, I thank you for your comments and insight on this chapter, as well as the ones to come. Hopefully your vacation is going wonderfully.
> 
> Berzerker88: I'm glad you enjoyed some of the details that I tried to work into the story, and I did go down quite a rabbit hole when considering how surgery for various mammals world work. Thanks for going over the final scene of this chapter too.
> 
> KOakaKO: Ouch! That sounds like an interesting and painful path you've walked over the years. The Centre is a small facility, which allows for a tight knit team; something that's often hard to come by in larger facilities. The fact that resources become strained is the downside though.
> 
> Vanderde: I hope that the end notes have helped to make some sense of the science aspects. I try to include a little explanation about what's being done and why, but if I miss something, just ask, and I'll try to respond.
> 
> peacebringer89: Glad to hear you're enjoying the story so far. The crossover potential is one that I'm trying to use judiciously. As this story isn't about Nick and Judy, their use will be few and far between, but I have had some fun working with other authors to sprinkle some of each other's worlds into the mix.
> 
> Nicolaiwulf: Here's another monster of a chapter for you. Enjoy!
> 
> Hockey39: I hope you've enjoyed the rest of the chapters, and I meant what I said regarding FUCK SCIENCE! I'm going to stick with brutal reality, but it should never be a requirement. If the narrative suffers from the science, the science goes out the window…where it will accelerate at 9.8m/s^2 until it reaches terminal velocity or impacts a surface.
> 
> From AO3:
> 
> SmokyHazeFeelz: Well I didn't manage to warn you in time, but I hope that you made it past the really depressing parts.
> 
> Jack_Kellar: Hopefully you made it to Chapter 7, and can see some of the reason why Carol acted the way she did. As I wrote, it in no way justifies her actions, and in many ways it even makes it worse, but it's who she is.
> 
> CAPTAINPRICE79: Glad to see you made it through the story intact. I'm afraid that Jason is still whole and healthy to date…but he's still an ass.
> 
> Kittah4: Hopefully the info on caffeine and chocolate will help out in your works, and I stand by my statement that you're in the clear so far. Given the current setting in the story, there will be at least one mammal in this chapter double checking that their use of coffee hasn't hit a red-line just yet.
> 
> WolfGuardMiestwin: Hopefully you enjoy Carol's section in this chapter. No coywolves will result I'm afraid, but it should have some emotional resonance.
> 
> wheresthecoffee: Always nice to read your comments, and I hope that the answers I gave make sense. Teaching at a university level is always challenging, but I do enjoy it…most of the time.
> 
> twocentnuisance: Thank you very much for your comments on the story so far. It hasn't been an easy tale to tell, but I'm glad that the background research is appreciated.
> 
> Michael: As I wrote, I specifically didn't make Tommy's disability obvious simply because not all disabilities are…and the million dollar breadbox is very real.
> 
> Once again, my thanks go out to WildeNick for helping to edit another beast of a chapter. Please give his story Three Months a Fox a read.
> 
> And without further ado, let's get back to the story.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Fresh Wounds and Fading Scars**

The two canines pulled into the Honeywell Centre just after 4:45AM. Already Dave could see that most of the research staff had taken Jim's urgency to heart, as the parking lot was already filling with recognizable vehicles. It was rare for Dave to arrive at the Centre and not see Jim waiting over in the smoker's corner, but he had the sense that today was destined to be quite atypical.

Carol pulled up in front of the entrance, and looked over to him. "It's really all paws on deck today, isn't it." She stated looking over both the filling lot, and the mingling forms of mammals in the reception area. "Do you think it's really a hybrid?"

The question was a natural one, and Dave could only cock his head to the side in confusion. "I don't know hon. I don't think it would have been so urgent if they didn't think it was a possibility, so we need to move quickly to figure out if it will remain a possibility." He gave his head a shake before continuing. "Even if it's real, the odds are stacked against it," he said a tad disheartened. "We're in uncharted waters Carol; I just hope we make the right calls."

Carol could see the worry in his eyes as he spoke, and she reached out a paw to cup his cheek. "Don't doubt yourself before you even walk in the door you silly wolf." She leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the muzzle before making a shooing motion with her paws. "Now get a move on doctor," she commanded, but then thought better of it before gripping his arm to pull him back in. "But don't keep me waiting tonight!" She added with a warning glance.

He gave a small laugh as he yielded to her pull. "I wouldn't dare make you wait. I love you Carol." He said before giving her a return peck on her muzzle, then exiting the car.

She gave him a war smile and replied "I love you too." before revving the engine in warning. Dave took the hint and slammed the car door an instant before it bolted towards the exit. He had to shake his head, but was interrupted from his musings as his sensitive ears picked up the low rumble of an unfortunately all too familiar engine approaching. He wasn't even consciously aware of his lip rising into a snarl and exposing his fangs when he saw Jason's car pull in.

" _So Jim even called him in."_ He considered internally. " _Maybe there's more to this than wishful thinking after all."_

He quickly squashed down those unproductive thoughts and turned his back on his arriving colleague. He could see that the mammals in the front lobby were beginning to make their way upstairs, probably to the main boardroom. Not wanting to be the one who kept anyone waiting, he padded inside, raising a paw to Ed at the reception desk.

"Good evening! Or, well morning I guess, Dave." The rat said in greeting. "Just follow the crowd for now, I think only Dr. Kent and Dr. Pawson aren't here yet, but Jim wanted to get things moving." He added, waving his paw towards where he could see Donny, Genevieve, and Arnold heading towards the stairs. The bison paused and yawned heavily, an act which Dave as well as all the other mammals present were caught up in themselves.

"Thanks Ed" Dave replied still half caught in the contagious yawn…it was rather early for all concerned after all, and headed to meet up with the rest of the staff.

He caught up with the lab group about halfway up. It appeared that they'd paused on the first landing, where they had been met by Kate, and were looking over some documents. Now that he was closer, he could see that Elizabeth was also part of the group, and was catching a ride on Genevieve's shoulder. All of the mammals looked up at his approach, and he could see from their expressions that there was definitely something odd about whatever the notes contained.

Without preamble, Donny handed over a page to him. "No hints Dave. What do you see here?"

Dave looked at the image on the paper, and recognized the karyotype that it contained. At a glance, it appeared to be a standard _Canis_ genome, with 39 chromosome pairs, but his eyes were drawn to several differences. The sizes were almost all wrong; far too large in some cases, much smaller in others, and the presence of what looked like microchromosomes in the mix led to only one conclusion.

"It's _Vulpes vulpes_ , but a tetraploid." He looked up at the assembled scientists. "Are you saying that…" He paused and looked back down at the image, searching for the probable sex chromosomes by eye. After finding what he was looking for he continued, "…that the father is a viable tetraploid? There's never been a _Canidae_ tetraploid to survive past 5 years that we know of, and that case was an absolute nightmare for all involved."

He had read that particular case study, and knew that the parents had kept their pup alive for far longer than could be considered ethical. She had be wracked with physical and mental disabilities and suffered from chronic pain for her entire life. At the time of her death, she had weighed less than a third of what was normal for her age, and had never progressed beyond the mental development of a 6 month old pup.

The individual in this case however, was effectively _normal_ …or at least not abnormal enough for any genetic testing to have been done prior to this. His head cocked to the side in confusion as he considered the implications of this.

"It gets even weirder Dave." Beth added, obviously catching the subconscious gesture on his part. "I've only had a minute to look, but there are a boatload of discrepancies compared to the normal red fox karyotype." She shook her head and motioned back to the page in Dave's paws. "Some of those chromatin don't match anything in my memory, so we're either looking at some major recombination events, or downright chromosome fusions."

Donny gave a rumble of agreement before looking over to the other bison. "Kate, do you know if anyone called Abby? Her research focus is on the divergence of the _Canis_ and _Vulpes_ genomes. If anyone can narrow down these changes quickly, it will be her." He asked, while at the same time retrieving his cell phone from his pocket.

Kate shook her head in response. "I don't think so. Jim and Percy put the priority on getting the physicians and research staff called in."

Donny nodded his head and started dialling. "You all go on ahead. I'll call her and get her in here ASAP. Beth, Genevieve, I'll have her work under you two for now. Have her map the recombination events to both the _Vulpes vulpes_ and _Canis lupus_ genomes." He looked back towards Dave. "I think you and I are going to be busy working up something to assemble a tetraploid genome for now, but you'll probably also have to handle some of the clinical stuff until things fall into place." He raised the phone to his ear, and motioned with his other hoof for the others to move on.

Genevieve wasted no time, and was already planning the next steps. "We'll need to get some of the fetus' cells as soon as possible. Figuring out what's happening with the father is important, but the pup's got to be our priority." She paused for a moment. "Do we have a name we can use? Just saying father and mother is a bit impolite, and I'm afraid that we're going to be getting to know this couple far better than they'd like."

Kate had retrieved the files from Donny before leaving, but didn't need to consult them before replying. "Janet and Tommy Rey, currently residing in the Rainforest District. Ms. Rey is a firefighter, and Mr. Rey works as a maintenance technician for the metro service. Their only family is a sister on Ms. Rey's side. Both of Mr. Rey's parents are deceased, and he has no siblings."

"Karma strikes again. It was too much to hope that there would be some relatives on his side to compare to." Beth gave a sigh, and looked to Kate again. "But we have to work with what we have. What did Jim peg the stage of the pregnancy at?"

"No more than a couple of weeks. Ms. Rey went out of heat 11 days ago, so he estimated that conception would have been around 16-21 days ago." Kate replied, while the group reached the second floor and headed for the boardroom.

Dave gave a wince at the implication of the pregnancy's stage. "Amnio is going to be risky as Hell at this stage. The fetus is only going to be the size of a damn paperclip, and the amniotic sac only slightly larger. It will have to be Laura, Doug or I that does it…and if we slip even a little." He rubbed a paw over his eyes, well aware that everyone here knew exactly what the consequences would be. "We'll need to let the Rey's know that the risk is immense, but you're right Genevieve, we need to get some DNA from the fetus NOW." He shook his head as they all entered into the boardroom. "Our only chance to correct any defects we find…if we're even capable of fixing them at all, is to identify them early in development."

A quick look around the room revealed that, with the exception of Jason, Donny, and Laura, the entire medical and research staff was on paw for the meeting, and it was standing room only as a result. Doug and Jim were at the head of the large conference table, apparently going over some notes before the meeting started.

He made his way to the front to join them, and Jim looked up as he approached. The antelope had an apologetic expression on his face as he spoke "Sorry to have to call you in Dave, but it looks like this is a real hybrid." His expression shifted quickly to one of worry. "Is Carol OK? What happened?"

Doug looked up at Jim's comment, and concern was also written on his face as he looked over to Dave.

Dave gave a shake of his head. "She's far from OK, but she thinks it's past the crisis point. There was an accident at ZFB Baden yesterday, and it ripped open some deep wounds for her." He felt his face slipping into a snarl, as he relived pieces of the previous evening, and he fought to return it to a neutral expression.

It hadn't gone unnoticed and both Jim and Doug, who instinctively took a step back. Dave ran a paw across his face before continuing. "Sorry about that. Let's just leave it at an old tormentor of her's managed to find a way to twist the knife in a bit more on his way out, and it's left me a bit on edge." Looking over to Jim he allowed a smile to crest his muzzle. "Jim, I can assure you that, just from what I managed to gather in the stairwell, you're safe from being literally served on a platter next Saturday. If this is real, it certainly qualifies as life or death."

" _I'm going to have to be careful today,"_ Dave thought to himself. It wasn't like him to take out his anger on others, but the lack of sleep was probably not helping things either. " _Then again…"_ He thought, scanning around the boardroom. " _Jim could have at least ordered in some breakfast for us, the morning food delivery won't be for a couple of hours. A bunch of tired, and grumpy mammals, many of whom are predators, does not a happy room make."_ He had a small chuckle at the thought and looked back to Jim, already in a better disposition for it.

Jim gave a laugh at that, and the tension between the mammals lifted. Seeing that Doug still had a confused expression on his face, Jim clarified the joke. "When I called Dave, Carol threatened to ' _put venison back on the menu'_ if this wasn't serious…I'm fairly sure she was joking."

He looked over to Dave, who fought to maintain a serious face as he raised his eyebrows and slowly shook his head from side to side. Doug gave a small bark of laughter at the gesture, and looked gravely at the antelope. "I wouldn't put money on that Jim, but if Dave says you're safe, we can probably assume that you'll still have all your various quarters attached for the foreseeable future."

Looking around the room the buck noticed that Jason and Donny had quietly entered the room…and that Dr. Kent taken up residence as far as possible from Dave. " _I'll have to deal with that at some point."_ Jim thought glumly. As much as he disliked the deer, he couldn't have the threat of violence affect Jason's work more than his own actions already had. " _At least not until I can send him packing for good!"_

Seeing that all the physicians and researchers were present, Doug rapped his knuckles on the table to get everyone's attention. Ears and heads swivelled towards him, and he touched a control on the table to turn on the display at the front of the room.

"Good morning everyone." He began "I know that this is a bit earlier than the majority of us are used to, but we had a rather unique set of patients come in yesterday evening. I'm going to hand things over to Dr. Cerval to go over what we know, and then we're all going to be putting our heads together to figure out a path forward." He motioned towards Jim, who stood at the front of the room. "Jim, if you would please?"

Jim took a moment to rub his eyes in an attempt to clear them. He had been staring at a monitor for hours, and the adrenalin that had kept him going was trailing off. "OK everyone, yesterday around 23:20, a wolf and fox couple, Janet and Tommy Rey, were admitted to the Centre." He motioned with a remote, and the basic information for both mammals was put on display. "You'll all find full copies of their charts in your cloud folders as well, and I'd encourage all of you to go over them in detail afterwards. Ms. Rey presented with localized tenderness in both uterine horns, irregular nausea, as well as elevated levels of IgG in her bloodstream. After an initial consult with her primary physician, Dr. Walfin, a pregnancy test was ordered, which came back positive."

At the sound of Tess' name, Dave's ears perked up even further. " _Two consults in one week?"_ He thought to himself. " _The Miller's were also a_ Canis/Vulpes _couple, but for them it was a simple ovarian cyst. That's not the case here, that's for sure."_ He jotted down a note to contact Tess once the hour became more reasonable. There might be some additional details that she would know that hadn't made their way into the charts.

" _It's not likely she'd leave any details out though."_ He gave a small chuckle at his memories of med school, where the arctic fox was well known for taking notes on _everything_ no matter how small or insignificant.

Jim was continuing on, so Dave brought his attention back to the case at paw. "Upon admission, our test results confirmed those conducted by their physician, and the two were admitted for observation and testing. Ms. Rey was started on an IgG treatment to counter an apparent haemolytic incompatibility, and complete genetic profiles for both her and her husband are currently underway." Jim looked to his watch. "We don't expect to have enough coverage for a _de novo_ assembly for another 30 hours, but 2 of our BGSeqs have been set up for rapid runs, and we should have at least a 10X coverage for each parent in about another 12 hours."

Dave and Donny both winced at the low coverage. They looked to each other and shrugged. Jim noticed the gesture and sighed. "I know it's not enough for you two to really work with it, but we need to get data as quickly as possible, particularly for Mr. Rey." He tapped the remote, and the same karyotype Dave had seen earlier. "For those of you who haven't looked at one of these in a while, I'll save you the impromptu quiz that Percy subjected me to when he passed on the results. This is not Ms. Rey's karyotype, it's Mr. Rey's." He paused and let the information sink in.

There were some mumbles from around the room, as the mammals with a background in genetics quickly clued into the implications. It was actually Jason who spoke first. "He's a viable tetraploid? And he's made it to 28 years old? He should be dead…Hell, at best he should be off drooling in a corner at some long term care facility. All the previous cases never saw any intellectual developments beyond a 1 year old. Were you able to get a karyotype off of any additional tissues? Maybe this was just a fluke."

Before Jim could continue, Doug held up his paw and spoke directly to Jason. "Dr. Kent, in the unlikely event that you have direct contact with either Mr. or Ms. Rey; if you _ever_ utter _anything_ intimating that he should be off 'drooling in a corner', or anything of the sort, your days at the Centre will be through! I trust that I'm being clear enough for you?"

Jason nodded stiffly, and Jim couldn't help but notice that both Dave and Cat, while actively trying not to snarl, had their eyes deadlocked on the deer with distinctly predatory stares. He jumped the presentation forward to the external photographs of Mr. Rey to divert the conversation away from potential violence. He could see Dr. Kent's eyes widen as the collage of colours from his coat markings became evident. Another click brought a close up of the patient's eyes, and again the extreme variation was obvious to all the mammals in the room.

"We've managed to get karyotypes for epithelial cells from the skin, and mucosal membranes; all of them show the same chromatin organization. If we need to, we'll request to perform a biopsy to gather samples from additional tissue sources, but for now, _yes_ , I'm certain that he's a viable tetraploid, Dr. Kent." Jim crossed his arms over his chest and looked directly at Jason before continuing. "As for his mental capacity, he does exhibit some level of intellectual disability, and although we haven't conducted any cognitive testing so far, I would place him as low average on the IQ scale. He's high functioning, and is more than capable of caring for himself, and others. He obtained a GED, albeit after an extended period of 8 years, and he has held a technical position with the Zootopia Transport Authority for the past 6 years. Additionally, he recently began an apprenticeship program through his work as a mechanic. By his and Ms. Rey's admission, he's finding it difficult, but he has persevered. In other words, he's very far from needing _any_ kind of long term care facility."

Jim looked over the room again. "There are some details that should be addressed though. Any staff member who interacts with them directly should be aware that Mr. Rey does exhibit a strong pair bond with his mate. Wherever possible, we should try to keep the two of them together, for both their sakes. Physical contact is extremely important to both of them, and unless it affects your ability to do your jobs, leave them be. This is particularly true when you need to take samples. Mr. Rey has a strong aversion to needles, as well as a suffering from an aggressive version White Coat syndrome in general."

Jim again paused and collected his thoughts before continuing. "Having them together keeps _both_ of them calm, and right now they are scared out of their minds. Ever since they were first told the news, it's been couched with how impossible this was, and how more tests were needed to _make sure_ that it was real. I did it, Laura did it; Hell I'd wager that every one of you did it at least mentally when you saw the karyotype. That uncertainty, and let me be clear, we are in entirely uncharted territory here, is making the situation worse for them, but we can't hide from the reality of this situation."

He once again pressed a button on the remote, and another picture filled the screen. This time it was an ultrasound, and circled on the image was a tiny form, no more than a centimetre in length. No major details could be seen, but implantation had occurred, and there was no doubt that the pregnancy was real.

"It's _not_ impossible. It _has_ happened. And the clock is ticking for us to figure out what the implications are." Dave could see Jim's face had become clouded as the antelope advanced to the next slide. Another ultrasound image could be seen, but the tale of this one was nowhere near as positive. "The ultrasound also showed that there was at least one other embryo present in the uterus. This one failed either during or shortly after implantation, and as can be seen, it is in the process of being reabsorbed." Jim pointed back to the screen and punctuated each word by gesturing to the image it contained. "This is what they're terrified is going to happen and we all know the odds are very high that it probably will."

Jim walked back to the table and collapsed into a vacant seat, utterly spent. Cradling his head against one of his hooves, he looked towards the other mammals. "That's what we have… _all_ we have. Mr. Rey has no surviving relatives, and aside from a few minor recombination events on the part of Ms. Rey she's within the normal range for _Canis lupus_." Jim motioned towards Dr. Gaitmore. "Percy, did you want to go over the specific alterations you've identified from Mr. Rey's genome?"

The zebra shook his head. "It's not really going to help until we run some additional experiments and work up a preliminary genome sequence for him. The important part is that we're dealing with extensive chromatin remodelling on chromosomes 2, 4, 7, 12 and 16. For now we've taken to subcategorizing these as a or b, depending on what we think their source is, but that's still up in the air." He also looked utterly exhausted, and Dave could tell by the amount of data that had been generated already that the night staff had pushed as hard as they could to make it this far. Before he could speak up, Percy continued. "Once we manage to map out the changes, we're hoping to be able to determine what their analogues in the _Canis_ genome are."

Donny took that moment to chime in. "I've already called Abby, and she's on her way." Looking around the room the bison noticed that several mammals were nodding in agreement. "We know, both from her research, as well as previous studies done that the _Vulpes vulpes_ chromosomes generally correspond with 2 to 3 Canis lupus chromosomes each. In this case…" He motioned back to the screen with one hoof. "it would appear as though there was enough homology to allow for cell division to occur, but with changes this drastic, there are bound to be issues that we better hope we can fix."

Percy nodded at Donny's contribution and made a few notes of his own before continuing. "Donny, I never had a chance to check with her, but has she done much work with the microchromosomes? In the case of Mr. Rey, there appears to have been have been 5 microchromosome fusions, leading to the development of what we're categorizing as chromosomes 18 through 22 for the time being, but we really have no idea what we're dealing with, and are just guessing. They could be completely novel, or they might just be some random duplication."

Donny gave it some thought before replying. "Not as much as I'd like, given the current situation. Their variable nature meant that they were a low priority for a project such as hers. She's working to trace the major linkage groups between the two genera, and the microchromosomes are only minimally linked to any major phenotypic traits."

Doug chose that moment to chime in again. "I think we've covered the basics here. I'd recommend that we focus on putting together a diagnostic and treatment plan together as soon as we can." Doug looked over to Dave. "Dave, Dr. Walfin requested that you be the primary on this one. You're going to be torn between lab and floor duties as is, but would you be OK taking over from Jim?"

Dave nodded, and had a small smile on his muzzle. "As soon as I heard Tess' name, I figured I'd be called upon. I can handle it; don't worry about that." His face became more serious as he shifted to planning out the next steps. "I know that this is going to be a nightmare, but Genevieve was right in the stairwell, we need to get the fetus' genome sequenced right now. Amniocentesis on an embryo this young is going to be a insane, but I can't think of a way to get the samples otherwise." He rubbed his eyes with his paw as he again ran through the options before continuing. "If I can salvage any of the tissue from the second embryo, it might help, but since something resulted in it failing, I can't imagine it being much use in the long run."

He looked to Doug and he could see that the buck's thought process was following a similar vein to his own. "Doug, You, Laura and I are the only ones with the background to do it, but I've never performed amnio on a mammal this early in development."

Doug shook his head. "Neither have I Dave, nor do I think Laura has either…and I can't think of anyone else who has, _ever_." He paused before continuing. "For _Canis_ species, we don't even recommend it until 4-6 weeks into pregnancy, but this is about as special a case as I can think of."

Before either mammal continued, Jason spoke up. "Given the development of the fetus, you won't be able to get more than a few epithelial cells. Can you separate them from the maternal tissue, and even then, will it be enough for any meaningful work?"

The questions were valid ones, and Dave considered the options. Before he could answer Penny piped in from where the lab staff were mainly clustered. "I can separate the cells without any issue. We have probes for pretty well every _Vulpes vulpes_ surface marker downstairs, and I can use the flow cytometer to separate out the cells which are only expressing _Canis_ traits." The bobcat motioned to the goat standing next to her. "Ned and I have already worked on a few single cell genome sequences, and the techniques could be used here. There are a lot of errors that get inserted going that route though. There's just so much DNA amplification that's required, and every round of that inserts multiple mutations into the sequence."

Jason was nodding his head. "That might be a good place to start, but I can try to set up a cell culture system for a few of the samples. I should be able to get enough tissue for a proper de novo assembly within 2-6 days." He frowned slightly at the timeframe, but continued on. "It's not perfect, but if we combine the two approaches, we can get preliminary data within the next 48 hours and start working with it. What we identify from that can serve to target our culture-based sequencing."

From there, the various groups broke off and started making plans, and contingencies for whatever they could think of. Dave made his way over to Donny while checking his watch. "I don't think I'll need to see the Rey's until they've had a bit more sleep, but I probably won't be able to get down to the lab for a few hours at least. Did you want to set up in the offices here for now, and we can try to suss out some of the changes that will need to be made to account for both Mr. Rey and the fetus' probable genomes?"

Donny nodded his head. "Coding will be more comfortable up here anyways. I'll meet you in about 10 minutes. I need to confer with Percy about a few details before I disappear."

Dave noticed Catherine trying to get his attention, and he nodded to Donny before heading over. "I take it you're going to add to my growing list responsibilities Cat?" He asked with a small chuckle.

The jaguar smiled and shook her head before replying. "Unfortunately, yes. We have a few booked appointments to consider this morning. I know that you're going to be needed in the lab, but there is at least one I know you'll want to handle personally."

Dave cocked his head as he tried to think of what procedures had been booked for today. The realization dawned on him quickly enough and his eyes widened. "The Clawsons." He stated simply before shaking his head in remonstration. "I completely forgot that the D&E was booked for tomorrow."

The appointment had just been another notation in his calendar until now, and his face darkened as the implications settled onto his shoulders. " _Just another notch for the reaper's scythe…but I have to help put it there."_ He thought glumly to himself.

Seeing his expression, Cat placed a paw on his shoulder. "You going to be OK Dave?"

He gave himself a shake, and had a wry smile on his muzzle. "I'll be fine Cat. It's just not something I enjoy doing." Looking around the room he couldn't help but sigh. "We're going to move Heaven and Earth to try and save one kit, but we can't do anything to save another." He shrugged. "It's just nature, but it always hurts to some degree."

"That it does, but fighting back is all we can do." She looked around the room as well. "Anyways, I'm going to be a bit of a third wheel for most of the initial work with the Rey's. I'll leave the details to you lab rats...no offence to Ed, of course. I'll try and handle most of the cases that come in so that you, Laura and Doug can focus on the Rey's."

Dave had a very real smile on his muzzle as he nodded. "Thanks Cat, but if you get swamped, just let one of us know. Aside from the amniocentesis, there's really not much else we can do until the sequencing information starts to come in. I should be able to help out in the afternoon at least." He gave a small laugh. "I can almost guarantee that ALL the lab efforts are going to be focused on this, so our various pet projects are well and truly on hold."

He leaned in closer to Cat and whispered. "Jason probably hasn't clued in yet, but that includes his project too." Looking over to the Deer who was consulting with Penny, more than likely about the sequencing of the fetal cells, Dave continued. "He seems happy enough for now, but we'll see how he feels when he finds out that his samples were probably bumped out of the sequencing que when the data started to come in for the Rey's."

Catherine gave a laugh at the thought. "Well Dave, you do know how to see the bright side of this scenario."

"Thanks Cat. Did you happen to catch what time the Clawson's are coming in?" He asked as he turned to head out of the now thinning boardroom and meet up with Dr. Widelhorn to start programming the revised assembly algorithms. " _Well Donnie will be programming; I'll be desperately searching PubMed and GitHub to see if we can compare our stuff with anything out there."_ He thought to himself.

"She's booked for 1, and I'll make sure that Gina's booked in for it as well. I'm pretty sure Laika's going to want to head home in a couple of hours at the most." Cat added, and Dave turned on his heel as another thought crossed his mind.

"We'll also need her for the amnio unless someone wants to call in Grant as well." Looking over his shoulder, he saw Dr. Wilson's just moving to exit the boardroom and he looked back to Cat. "I'll check with Doug and figure out when we'll…well, _if_ we'll perform the procedure."

He raised his paw in a quick wave, and then moved to catch up with the rabbit. Doug was waiting for him just outside the room, and when Dave gave a slightly perplexed expression at his foresight, the buck motioned to his long ears. "They're not just for show Dr. Hawthorne, and I agree that we need to decide how to proceed."

Dave nodded and smiled in understanding. He knew that his own hearing was at times _painfully_ acute, but lapines were on a whole other level. He could hear a much greater range of frequencies than Doug, but the rabbit had him beat for being able to distinguish conversations at a distance. "I think I'll introduce myself to the Rey's sometime around 6:30 to 7:00. Based on their occupations, they're probably used to getting up around that time, so I shouldn't be disturbing them too much." He motioned with his paw to the printouts he had snagged. "I'll go over what we have so far, and cover what our concerns are. More importantly, I'll try to explain to them why it's so important that we move ahead with the amnio as soon as possible."

Doug nodded, but his ears drooped slightly. "I think you should wait until Laura gets back before starting." The buck shook his head. "I hate to admit it, but I'm getting old. My paws are still as steady as ever, but both you and Laura are better suited to this. I'd like to be there when you go over the results of the previous tests with them, as there are some administrative details that they should be aware of regarding the Honeywell trust that might influence their decision."

Dave's eyes widened at the implications. The Honeywell trust had maintained the operations of the Centre for a decade…and in fact had been growing for that entire time. Its funds were only to be used towards the operations of the Centre and its staff…with the exception of when a viable hybrid from incompatible species was identified.

"Are you sure you want to go over that so soon? Until we have confirmation that the pup is a hybrid, our paws are tied when it comes to covering anything outside of the medical expenses." Dave asked.

Doug nodded his head in reply. "They should know that there are provisions to support their time off work, which will be required for Ms. Rey, I'm certain." The rabbit checked his watch before continuing. "I'll call Laura and ask her to come in for 8 or 9. It's not going to give her a full night's sleep, but it will be better than most of us managed."

At the mention of their lack of sleep, Doug opened his mouth in an involuntary yawn, which proceeded to infect Dave and Cat, who was just leaving the boardroom. "Damn it, I'm going to need some coffee before I can do anything." She said, and made her way to the 2nd floor lounge. "Should I put on a pot, or just set up some caffeine citrate IVs instead?"

"Start with the former, and we'll see about the latter in a few hours." Doug replied before heading off towards his office. "I'll gather the information regarding the Honeywell trust. If you could stop by my office before and grab me before you speak with the Rey's, I'd appreciate it."

"Got it Doug." Dave replied, and he initially started towards the offices, but paused when he passed by the lounge, another yawn breaking through his control. "Coffee, definitely coffee." He mumbled to himself.

Even with all the planning and preparation running through his mind, one thought was at the forefront when he saw that, only now were the first hints of dawn visible on the horizon. " _This is going to be a long day."_

* * *

Dave and Donny had managed to get into a good rhythm, thanks in part to the fact that researchers over on the plant side of things had been required to deal with polyploid genomes almost from the get go. None of the available programs could be used directly in mammalian species, but it was much easier to start with an established framework, and then modify it to suit their needs.

Both mammals had laughed when it was brought up, as they knew several colleagues over on the pure computer science side of the table who would view their entire field as an affront to good practices. Their code was almost universally an un-optimized mess…but it worked, and that was all they cared about. In a situation like this, all that mattered was that they had something put together for when the sequencing information started coming in. They'd clean it up when it came time to write the inevitable papers that resulted from this case…regardless of how this ended up.

They had just managed to jury rig the code to measure the variation in the individual DNA segments and identify regions on the chromosomes where the multiple nucleotides varied significantly into their assembly pipeline, when Dave's phone buzzed in his pocket. Quickly checking his watch, he saw that it was indeed already 6:30, and it was time to introduce himself to the Rey's.

"Duty calls I'm afraid." He said to Donny as he gathered up the various materials that would be needed. "Message me if you run into any problems."

The bison shook his head and chuckled. "I think I'll be fine, although I'll probably need to reach out to the CS department a ZU to run a few ideas past Mel before we compile everything and stress test it on the main server with some dummy data."

Dave nodded at the plan. Dr. Melanie Lodal was a professor at ZU, and regularly collaborated with Donny in regards to genome and transcriptome analysis. The raccoon had a keen mind when it came to pattern recognition, and unlike many of her colleagues, working with such a " _half-assed"_ biological code was more a welcome challenge than an affront to her programming sensibilities.

Raising a paw in farewell, he made his way to Doug's office, which given his status as the head physician, was downright palatial compared to the small (but comfortable) office that Dave and the other physicians were provided with. As he approached the open door, his ears twitched as he heard multiple voices coming from inside. He knocked on the door frame before poking his head inside, and was surprised to see Doug sitting at the smaller conference table in his office with two senior representatives of the Centre's legal team.

"Dr. Hawthorne, please come in." Doug said, motioning with his paw for Dave to join them at the table.

Before seating himself, Dave offered his paw to the well-dressed male cheetah and rabbit doe. "Ms. Longfellow, Mr. Dray, it's good to see both of you again. I'm surprised to see you here so early in the morning however." He said with a smile on his muzzle.

It was an unfortunate reality of medicine that it was practically a certainty that a physician, particular OBGYNs who dealt almost exclusively with cases where a healthy birth was a true rarity, would be faced with a malpractice lawsuit during their careers. To date, he had been fortunate, and had only gone through the process once previously. Fortunately, the Centre, and its staff were well represented by _Stellhorn, Dray & Longfellow_, although the fact that two senior partners were present at this hour was…unique to say the least.

Ms. Longfellow gave him a smile and a knowing wink. "Don't be so surprised Dr. Hawthonre. Daniel and I are both early risers. When he read the email from Doug this morning, he got in touch with me, and we thought that it warranted a bit of an earlier start for the day."

Looking between Doug and Dave, Daniel produced what appeared to be several reams of paper from his briefcase, and Dave went slightly pale under his fur at the thought of having to parse through that much legalese. The cheetah must have seen his expression, and gave a small laugh before removing a second, much smaller set of papers.

"Don't worry Dr. Hawthorne. This…" He said tapping a claw-tip on the large pile of paper "is the entirety of the Honeywell's will, including the provisions for the Honeywell trust. We won't need to go into the details this time around, but if this ends up being a verified fox-wolf hybrid, then several provisions will come into play. For now, we just wanted to make sure that Doug had the relevant details for a _probable_ hybrid scenario, which is outlined here." He handed over the much smaller document to Doug, who began to flip through the papers.

After only two pages, the buck sighed and rubbed his eyes with a paw. "Dan, Eve, it's far too early for me to make heads or tails of this. Can you summarize the important bits for Dave and I?"

Both lawyers had a chuckle at the comment, and Daniel retrieved a single folded page from the inner pocket of his blazer. "We did so happen to prepare an executive summary for you, but you should familiarize yourselves with the full document."

Doug took the paper, and scanned the contents before passing it over to Dave. "Yes, I'm sure we'll get right on that." Doug managing to both convey obvious sarcasm, but also no small measure of disdain.

Dave looked over the bullet points quickly, and noted that it pretty much conformed to his memory of what would be offered at this stage. The usual assurances that all medical care would be covered, as well as some recuperation of income loss for Ms. Rey, as well as some travel and living expense grants that would be offered.

"Just don't over promise before you get confirmation that this is real." Eve said with a serious expression on her face. "If this is confirmed, you both know that the floodgates will be opened, and the trustees won't care if you need to take a hundred million dollars and burn it in the parking lot while chanting prayers to Order and Chaos themselves, so long as it helps this pup beat the odds."

Daniel cleared his throat. "Although I trust that bonfires won't be required in this instance." As with his partner, the cheetah's face took on a more serious tone. "We'd also like to remind you, and all the staff here about the confidentiality of the patient records." Holing up a paw to forestall replied from both physicians, he continued. "I know that everyone here takes patient confidentiality seriously, and that even Eve and I only have the basic details required to do our jobs, but if this is real, it will extend beyond the normal restrictions. Everything relating to the Rey's must anonymized prior to any publications, and there are not to be _any_ public announcements without their express consent."

Eve continued. "This may be a medical marvel, but the Honeywell's were quite explicit that all efforts were to be made to give these mammals a normal life. Not thrusting them into the spotlight."

Doug nodded at the two attorneys. "We're well aware of the restrictions, and this isn't the first time that we've made it to this stage with incompatible species." He looked at the two mammals with some confusion on his face. "What is different about this case? We've had dozens of cases over the years where an incompatible couple has made it to the early stages of pregnancy, and the same protocols were always followed to the letter. Why does this case, which in all honesty is still very likely to end in tragedy no matter what we do, warrant a visit from two senior partners?"

The cheetah smiled, but it was a predatory one, something to be used when prey was cornered. "Why Doug, I thought you would have seen the difference this time. This is a hybrid between a fox and a wolf, and the Honeywell's had some very explicit wishes in the event that this came about."

Dave was momentarily taken aback by the statement. That the Honeywell's were a wolf and fox couple was well known, but that there were specific clauses related to that specific species pairing ran contrary to the overall mission of the Centre. They were to help…or try to help, all mammals who came through those doors, without regard to their species.

He was about to speak up when Eve waved her paw dismissively at her colleague. "Dan cut the act." She looked back to Dave and Doug, who both were wearing rather apprehensive expressions on their faces. "It's nothing malicious, nor does it affect anything that the Centre's staff needs to do. Those _explicit wishes_ are really just a clause that says that 'the Centre staff will be reminded of the standard protocols for, blah, blah, blah by the current senior partners representing the Centre and the Honeywell trust.' Now that we've reminded you of what you already know, we'll be able to get out of your fur."

Both mammals said their goodbyes, and left the two physicians shaking their heads, and Doug gave a short bark of laughter at the situation. "Well now that we've satisfied the legal team...and probably racked up what would be in any other instance, an obscene legal bill, I suppose you and I should go about actually doing our jobs?"

Dave nodded and made for the door, snagging one of the available tablets from the charging cradle as he left. "On that note Doug, I think I'm going to want you there when Laura and I perform the amniocentesis."

"Oh? And why would you want that?" He asked, as they made their way down the hall. "The two of you are more than qualified to handle this."

Dave shook his head. "Not for something like this. I've been thinking it over, and we should put Ms. Rey under for the procedure. The risks from even inadvertent movement on her part are just too high." His paws worked over the tablet as he brought up the ultrasound image from earlier. Motioning to the amniotic sac, just visible in the image he continued. "The separation between the sac and the fetus is only a couple of millimetres in some places Doug. There's no safety margin to work with, and Jim's practically dead on his hooves. That leaves you, and in all honesty, I wouldn't want another mammal on this."

Doug stopped and rubbed his chin as he thought over the options. "It's an added risk Dave…potentially a severe one. Do you think you can be done in 6 minutes, no more than 8?"

Dave nodded. "If we have the ultrasound positioned and ready to act as a guide, I can do it." Mentally though he wasn't so sure. " _May my muzzle not be writing cheques that my paws can't cash."_

Doug continued to mull it over, but continued towards the Rey's room. "I recommend we go with a Propofol infusion. You'll need to work quickly, but the risks are minimized the shorter we keep her under, so it's probably the best option."

As they approached the Rey's room, Dave's nose twitched as he picked up the scent of coffee and eggs from within. "I think we can assume that they're awake at least." He said to Doug, pointing to his nose in case the rabbit couldn't pick of the scent just yet. "Should we stop Ms. Rey from eating before the anaesthesia?"

Doug shook his head. "No, the duration is short enough, and the paralytic effects are so minimal that it shouldn't be an issue. Her having too much coffee is more of a concern, but if it's just the usual serving it won't be an issue."

Dave knocked on the door frame, and entered into the room. The fox and wolf were seated at a small table beside the window, clad only in hospital gowns, but seemingly relaxed. The remains of their breakfast, cricket omelettes and fruit cocktail, if his nose was correct...and in this instance it probably was. The Centre explicitly avoided serving patients food from the Zootopia General kitchens; instead opting to have an outside caterer handle all their meals, while snacks and the like were brought in daily for the patients and staff. Having staff from the main hospital sneak in to pilfer the Centre's pantry was not an uncommon event, and although it was discouraged, none of the Centre's staff was going to begrudge their colleagues decent coffee and the occasional pastry.

The thought made forming a smile on his muzzle an easier task, as he approached the couple who were nursing mugs of coffee as they watched the sun rise over the city. He extended a paw to each mammal in turn. "Ms. Rey, Mr. Rey, I'm Doctor Hawthorne, one of the attending physicians at the Honeywell Centre, and this is Doctor Wilson, the Chief Physician here." He motioned over to Doug as he spoke.

Doug also made to greet the Rey's. "Were you able to get some sleep? I can only imagine that things were a bit hectic last night."

Ms. Rey was the one to respond, and Dave noticed that Mr. Rey slid his chair towards her and took her paw in his own as she spoke. "We managed some sleep at least, but I'd be lying if I said it was good."

"I kept waking up when the nurses came in." Mr. Rey said quietly. "I'm sorry Janet. I know it bugged you." Looking around the room the fox shivered slightly. "It's so strange here." He said succinctly.

Dave nodded in understanding. "It's definitely not like home…any home really, and we'll try to keep the checks to a minimum from now on." Reaching over and retrieving the charts from the foot of one of the beds, noticing that the second bed hadn't been used, he took a seat in one of the chairs that Doug pulled over from against the far wall.

"Dr. Walfin asked that I take over as your primary physician. Are you alright with this, or would you prefer to stay with Dr. Cerval or have one of the female physicians here take over?" He asked.

Ms. Rey nodded her head. "That's fine. It sounded like you and Dr. Walfin know each other?"

"We went to med school together, and have kept in touch since then." He replied, before leafing through the charts. "Are you feeling up to going over what we've managed to figure out so far?"

Ms. Rey gave a laugh at the comment. "Doctor, I want nothing more than _some_ answers at least." She shook her head. "All the staff here have been very polite, but no one has been willing to give us any definite answers on, well…anything really."

Dave sighed at this, knowing that he wouldn't be able to provide total clarity to his patients. "We are in a fairly unique position here, and I can't promise to be able to answer all your questions, but I can at least answer some."

He made the mental decision to start things off with the "good" news, and he brought up the ultrasound image, and offered it to the Rey's. "First of all, congratulations! The ultrasound shows that you have an apparently healthy pup. We can't really get too much information at this stage…" He motioned over to the image, that had captured the attention of both parents, and began pointing out what features could be seen. "but, here you can see the head, and these little lumps here will eventually become the limbs. Overall the size is a little smaller than what would be seen in a pure wolf pup, but it is within the normal range."

He knew that he was breaking his own rules by referring to the fetus as anything more than that at this stage, but he needed to give the couple some hope, any hope really, that this could work. " _It might all end up being a lie, but we...I will fight tooth and claw to make it real."_ He thought internally. He could tell by the expressions of both mammals that the image had had the intended effect.

"It's real Tommy." Ms. Rey said, as she touched the image, and then rested a paw on her abdomen. "That's our pup."

This was often the case for new parents. A sign on a pregnancy test, or having a physician tell you that you were pregnant was one thing, but actually seeing the fetus? That was something completely different.

" _I just hope I'm not raising their hopes too high."_ He thought, not allowing the doubt to reflect on his face.

Her husband managed to break his gaze away from the picture, and a wide grin formed on his muzzle. "Our pup!" He exclaimed, and leaned over to embrace his mate.

Dave and Doug gave the couple a moment of joy before they had to bring things back down.

"The fact that the pregnancy has progressed this far is excellent news, but I'm afraid that there may be complications." Dave motioned over to Mr. Rey before continuing. "Under normal circumstances, the differences between fox and wolf DNA are just too much for pups to be possible. The chromosomes can't pair up properly, and the cells can't divide."

He motioned for the tablet, and Ms. Rey, somewhat reluctantly handed it back, taking one more look at the image beforehand. Switching the image to one showing the karyotypes of various species. "We'll make sure that you have a copy of that image as soon as we're done. Don't worry about that." He said before continuing with the medical details. "Most red foxes have 17 chromosome pairs, as well as some smaller microchromosomes; wolves, and other _Canis_ species have 39 chromosome pairs."

He switched the image to show the results from Mr. Rey's karyotype. "When we looked at you Mr. Rey, we saw that you're quite unique." He arranged the image next to the normal _Vulpes vulpes_ karyotype and began pointing out the differences. "Normally what happens is that one of each of these chromosomes is passed down from your mother and father. In your case, they each gave you both of theirs. Effectively this doubled the number of chromosomes inside each of your cells. We call this "Tetraploidy", and it's exceedingly rare to see. In fact, you're the only mammal to date that we've seen with this condition doing so well."

"What do you mean?" Ms. Rey asked, and Dave could see that the smile had faded from Mr. Rey's muzzle as the particulars of his condition were revealed. His expression was now one of focus, but Dave's nose could also detect the unmistakeable undertones of fear and stress radiating from the fox.

He'd tried his best to focus on the positive aspects, but he couldn't fully hide the truth from them. "In most cases of tetraploidy, the mammals don't survive for long, but in your case, there are some additional changes that might have made the difference." He motioned back to the image. "You have some alterations in several of your chromosomes that may have affected how your body regulates itself. In addition to this, you have 5 new chromosomes that were probably passed on from both your parents."

He sat back and motioned with his paws to both mammals while bringing up an image showing both the Rey's karyotypes, and what Percy had worked up as a possible pairing between the two mammals. "We won't have a full picture on exactly what's changed until we are able to sequence all of your DNA Mr. Rey, but the end result is that the two of you have a pup to consider…and that brings me to the biggest point."

His face shifted into a more severe countenance as he continued. "We still don't know how this has happened; only that it has. There could be nothing wrong with the pup at all, or there could be multiple issues present, and we need to know what the reality is as soon as possible. The most important thing that we need right now is to be able to look at the genome of the pup." He brought up some details on the procedure, and passed the tablet back to the Rey's. "The procedure is called amniocentesis, and it would involve using ultrasound to guide a needle into the sac surrounding the pup. I'd extract some of the fluid, and then we can use the cells to sequence its genome, and we can determine what, if any, treatment will be required."

Ms. Rey looked up and placed the tablet on the table, her face clouded with worry. "Isn't it early for that?" She asked, and then with a slight smile continued. "I might have done some Zoogling while all the testing was going on," she said a bit deviously.

Doug nodded in reply. "I can imagine, and it's completely understandable. Yes, this is very early, and there are real risks associated with this. Due to the size of the fetus, we'd like to anesthetize you for the procedure. Any movement could put the pup at risk, and this is the best way to ensure that it's done properly."

Dave chimed in. "And this really is important. The earlier we can determine what issues are present, the better chance we have to fix them. Right now things are still very early, and if we need to make use of gene therapy, that's a good thing. The longer we wait, the greater the chance that we'll miss the window where we can help…if we can. We may not be able to find out everything, but this will give us a foundation to work on. As I said, the pup could be normal, there could be little more than minor issues similar to what Mr. Rey is familiar with, or there could be more severe issues that we will need to address quickly."

Seeing the worry on Mr. Rey's face, Dave continued, speaking directly to the fox. "Mr. Rey, you can be right by her side the whole time. We will have to use a fairly big needle to do this, but this is the best way to help you and your pup."

Mr. Rey looked up at Dave, and for the first time, Dave could see the full array of colors that were present in his eyes. "Thank you Doctor Hawthorne." He said quietly, his paw griming his mate's more strongly. "I know being scared isn't helping, and I'm trying to understand all this." His gaze worked its way over the entire room, but lingered on his mate's abdomen. "…but it's hard." He leaned over and rested his head on Ms. Rey's arm, and with a sigh, some of the tension drained from his face.

Ms. Rey reached over with her free paw, and cupped her mate's cheek. Both Dave and Doug knew those expressions well, as both had shared these same moments of comfort with their own mates.

"I know you're trying Tommy, and if it helps any, I'm still not entirely sure about everything that's going on…but since even the doctors seem to be confused, I'd say that we're in good company." She said with a real smile on her muzzle.

Doug gave a laugh at that. "We'll hopefully have some more answers in the coming days." The rabbit retrieved the tablet and brought up some additional information about the treatment plan. "For the time being, we'd like for at least Ms. Rey to stay here for a few days so that we can monitor her condition. Mr. Rey, you're welcome to stay for as long as you like as well."

Ms. Rey looked up from her mate as Doug spoke. "Stay here for a few days?" The wolf shook her head. "I can't really take too much time off work. It's way too early for mat leave, and I only have a pawfull of vacation days left this year."

Doug nodded his head. "I understand, and the Centre will be providing full income replacement for as long as you need to stay here, as well as provide all the paperwork required for you to take a medical leave of absence, if required." Doug looked over to Mr. Rey and he had a small frown on his muzzle. "Until we can confirm that the pup is a fox-wolf hybrid, we can't offer the same income support to you Mr. Rey, but once it is, and we should know that by tomorrow, you'll have the option as well."

Both the Rey's were taken aback by the offer. "Full support? We were told that the medical stuff was covered, but you'll replace our normal pay as well?" Ms. Rey asked.

Doug nodded in reply. "Yes Ms. Rey. That's exactly what I am saying." His muzzle broke into a true smile as he spoke. "You, your husband, and your pup represent exactly the mammals we were founded to support, and we will do everything that we can to make sure that all three of you leave here healthy and whole." The buck waved a paw dismissively. "Compared to those goals, providing financial support is a minor thing."

Doug snapped his fingers as something else occurred to him. "Mr. Rey, I remember from our morning meeting that you were going through an apprenticeship through your work."

The fox nodded his head, and his ear's perked up with curiosity. "Yes, I'm learning to fix the busses…well trying to at least." He added meekly.

"While you're staying here, we can arrange for transportation for you if you require it." Doug's expression took on a softer tone. "I know from my own kits that those programs can be very demanding, and that taking time off is often frowned upon, if it's even an option."

Both the Rey's had smiles on their muzzles, as Doug laid out what the Centre would do to try and help the couple cope with the situation. Dave's nose still told him that both mammals were afraid. They were afraid of the unknown, and of the nearly infinite possibilities that came with it.

He wasn't sure when the mental connection was made for him, but at some point during the conversation both he and Doug had abandoned some of the formality, and these two became Tommy and Janet. More importantly than that, they became his patients, and his responsibility.

" _I just hope I don't fail them."_

* * *

After answering as many questions as they could, Doug and Dave made to leave the couple to give them some privacy, as well as a chance to digest all the information that they had been given. Before leaving, Dave indicated that the nurses would be by in about an hour to prep Janet for the amniocentesis, but if they had any concerns or questions, they could reach him directly, and both he and Doug had provided the couple with not only the usual contact information for the Centre, but also their personal numbers.

"Any question, no matter how minor, and no matter the time." Doug emphatically told both mammals.

As he was walking out of the room, a thought came to Dave. " _I need to put some time aside to put together a more visual description of the unique elements of Tommy's genome."_

The fox had been able to understand a great deal of what he and Doug had been describing, but was much more quickly able to grasp onto concepts when they were accompanied by a picture, or even better a physical model. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to explain everything, but Janet had always known when Tommy was reaching his limit comprehension wise. She had simply reached over to touch him, and tried to explain it again. Even when it was obvious that Tommy still didn't understand the details, he seemed to be calmed by the fact that _she did_.

Some mammals would have thought that the relationship was one sided, but on more than one occasion, it had been Janet reaching out for support when the hard facts came rumbling in, and both Dave and Doug noticed that Tommy was always there when she needed it. It didn't matter if he understood everything being said, he would be there for her, always.

It was humbling for both physicians to see in many ways.

As Doug headed down to the first floor to help Cat with the patients that would be arriving shortly, Dave noticed that Jim was sitting in the lounge waiting by the slowly filling coffee pot. The antelope looked dead on his hooves, and Dave knocked on the door to get his attention. When this failed to gather any response, he walked over and placed his paw on Jim's shoulder.

Jim flinched slightly at the contact, but relaxed when he saw who it was. He raised a hoof to his face, and made to scrub away some of the tiredness that was so evident…He didn't succeed.

"Jim, you should really go home and get some rest." His said gently. "We've got things handled for now, and we'll need you in top shape when the data starts coming in."

Jim didn't respond for a while, and went back to looking at the coffee pot. It was a few moments before he gave a deep sigh. "I know; I know I should, but I just can't shake the feeling I'm missing something."

Dave gave a small laugh at the concept. "We have way more questions than answers right now, and that's not going to change if you pass out at your desk." He gave his friend a small shake. "Get some real rest. If you think of anything, you know where to reach me." Looking up at the clock, it was his turn to sigh. "I need to get back to Donny. Take care of yourself Jim. You and the entire night staff did an amazing job gathering as much information as you did, but you're all exhausted."

Jim nodded, and started towards the door raising a hoof in farewell. Looking back over his shoulder he added "Thanks Dave. If anything changes…please let me know."

Dave nodded in reply, and after Jim left, he reached for one mid-sized and one comically large mug before shaking his head and simply taking 2 of the large-mammal mugs and filling them to the brim with fresh brew. Carefully balancing his load, he made way back to Donny to assist with getting the assembly algorithm up and running.

Donny gave him an odd look when he saw the two mugs, but Dave just shrugged. "I'm a realist Donny," He said while carefully working to take a sip of the oversized mug before continuing. "...and I'm pretty sure that this is the only thing that's going to keep me going today."

the bison considered this for a moment before nodding his head in agreement. "Just pass mine over already." He said before the two mammals directed their attention to the jumble of code that they were trying to piece together.

The first data was still hours away from being ready, but both he and Donny didn't want to waste any time when it did. So for almost 2 hours he and Donny had, metaphorically, slammed their heads into a brick wall of code (in a literal sense, only the desk, and in one instance, a wall was used), until the pieces started to finally fit together.

Donny had just reached the point where Dave was beginning to be more of a burden than an active contributor when Laura poked her head into the room.

"So when I left last night, we had a possible fox-wolf hybrid but not much more than that, and I went to bed knowing that my colleagues would surely let me know if something interesting came about." Both Dave and Donny cringed at what they knew was coming, and they could see the ferrets countenance darken as she continued. "Who was the idiot who didn't think that a 28 year old tetraploid AND a _highly probable_ fox-wolf hybrid weren't interesting enough to call me?"

"It was Jim!" Both males said simultaneously, and they looked to each other before breaking into laughter. Laura looked to the two mammals and sighed theatrically before joining in.

Donny was the first to regain some control. "Jim _and_ Percy made the call Laura. They wanted to make sure that at least one of the physicians would have a reasonable night's sleep. Jim also didn't want you to have to drag Will down here while you tried to find a sitter."

Laura's expression softened slightly at the explanation. "Fine, I accept that explanation, but Jim's still on my shit list. I did not see a box of chocolates on my desk when I came in, although I will acknowledge that, for once, he has a good excuse."

She moved over and grabbed a seat and had a smirk on her muzzle as she looked to Dave. "By the way, congratulations Professor Hawthorne. You managed to slip away before I could appropriately welcome you to faculty status, and the current situation has given you a reprieve, but it won't last forever."

Dave cocked his head to the side. "Uhh, thanks?" Was all he said, but his words were tinged with caution.

Laura smiled sweetly at his expression. "I guess Jim didn't tell you." She shook her head with mock sadness. "It's too bad. We had to take down the display in the elevator, but you can still see some of it in the lab if you get the chance to head down today." She stood up on the chair and reached out a paw to pat him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Cat and I haven't forgotten about you."

Reaching past the now _very_ wary wolf, she retrieved a copy of the Rey's charts that had been delivered once Doug and Sara Mills had prepped Ms. Rey for the amnio. "So I ambushed Doug on his way to give Ms. Rey the final once over before he agrees to use the general anaesthetic." She looked up to Dave as she spoke. "I agree with you that it's the right call by the way. Movement of any kind would be catastrophic in this case." Her face was etched with worry as she looked over the ultrasound image. "I know we don't have a choice, or rather it's the best choice out of a bunch of terrible options, but damn Dave, this is going to be dicey."

"I know Laura. _Believe_ me I know." He shook his head as once again, the weight of responsibility settled onto his shoulders. "The question now is, is it you or I that has to do it."

Laura looked thoughtful for a moment. "When Doug told me the details, I checked the records, and you've done more of these than I have in the past year, as well as dealing with pregnancies at an earlier stage. Not by much, but you're probably the better option for this." She looked up at Dave and twisted her muzzle into a scowl. "And don't think it's not killing me to admit that you _may_ be better at this than I am."

Dave gave a laugh at the admission. "Well shit Laura, I was kind of hoping you'd pull rank on this one." He said and both he as all three mammals laughed at the admission from both physicians. "Seriously though, are you sure? You've done more microsurgery than I have after all."

She nodded her head. "I think this one's better off in your paws Dave, but I will be there as an extra set of eyes or paws if you need them. Doug will be busy monitoring the sedation, but I can keep my eyes on the ultrasound as well."

Dave gave a small smile. "Well then, I think it's time that we got this show on the road." Looking to Donny, Dave bowed his head theatrically. "Duty calls Dr. Widelhorn…and I'll admit that I've reached the limit of my coding skills as is, so me getting out of your fur is for the best."

Donny turned back to his screen and chuckled. "I've got a handle on this from here on out. Good luck to both of you."

Laura hopped off her seat and motioned towards the door. "Well Dr. Hawthorne, shall we go and make medical history?"

"After you Dr. Pawson." He replied and the two made their way to the patient's room.

* * *

For a procedure like this, there was no need to prep the OR, although everyone involved did scrub thoroughly and don muzzle masks and gloves.

In addition to the Rey's and the three physicians, Gina Talon, another of the Centre's ultrasound techs, and Sara Mills were in the midst of prepping for the procedure.

Sara had an apologetic look on her muzzle, as she retrieved a pair of clippers from a cart at her side. "Sorry about this Janet, but we're going to have to shave some of your stomach for this."

Janet sighed, but nodded her head. "Considering the number of times I've been poked and prodded already, losing a bit of fur doesn't sound that bad…although I guess the poking and prodding will still happen too." She said, and Tommy reached over to squeeze her paw. He was also wearing a muzzle mask, but hadn't needed to don any other protective clothing.

As Sara went about shaving a fairly generous region of the wolf's abdomen, Doug was in the final steps of prepping for the anaesthetic infusion. "Now Janet, this is going to go just like we went over earlier. Just relax, and count down from 100. You'll only be asleep for a few minutes, although you may be a bit hazy on some of the details from the past little while as well." Looking over to Tommy, Doug continued. "Now Mr. Rey remember, you can hold her paw, and you can talk to her quietly as much as you want, but don't move her. Dr. Hawthorne needs for her to be as still as possible for her safety and your pup's."

Tommy nodded his head. "I understand Dr. Wilson. I won't move her at all; I promise."

Although Dave couldn't see his muzzle behind the mask, the small wrinkles around Doug's eyes showed that he was smiling at the fox. "I know you will Tommy." He said, and looked back to Dave and Laura, who was now applying disinfectant to Janet's exposed abdomen.

Gina was already at work on the ultrasound, and was manipulating the wand to get the clearest image possible of the fetus. After a few moments she nodded her head and all the mammals in the room could see the small figure on the screen. It was of course identical to what they had seen earlier this morning, but for the Rey's this was the first live image that they had seen and both parents were enraptured by it.

"Make sure that you save the video, Gina." Laura said and looked over to the Rey's. We'll make sure you get a copy…at least of the part before the procedure." She gave a slight laugh. "I kept a copy from when I had to have this done, but we doctors are a weird bunch, and it was the only way I could properly critique Doug on his technique after the fact." She added with a wink to the buck.

All the mammals had a laugh, and Dave took the moment to retrieve the long thin needle from the tray and nodded to Doug. "We're ready Janet."

Janet nodded and looked to her husband. "Remember Tommy, keep looking at my face if you get scared. I want you to be the first thing I see when I wake up, OK?"

He nodded his head, and once again squeezed his mate's paw. "I will Janet. I'll be right here."

Doug injected the Propofol into the IV line, and looked down at Janet. "OK, Janet. Start counting back now."

Janet nodded her head and started counting. "100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90, …89, …88,…) When her eyes fluttered shut, Doug quickly checked her vitals before nodding to Dave. "Go!"

Dave wasted no time, having already mapped out the probable location from the ultrasound, he smoothly inserted the needle just above the location of the uterine horn. His focus, along with that of Laura and Gina was fixed on the ultrasound screen. His aim had been good, and the needle entered into the field of view, and he slowly started manoeuvring it towards the small amniotic sac encasing the fetus.

"Move a bit more ventral, Dave." Laura quietly said, and he made a slight change in the trajectory of the needle.

"Got it." Dave said, as his paws direct the needle ever closer. "Time?" He asked, never once looking away from the screen. He worked to project a calm exterior, but he knew that Tommy would probably be able to smell the stress that he and the others were feeling.

"Coming up on 2 minutes." Sara answered.

Internally, Dave gave a sigh of relief. The procedure was moving along faster than he'd hoped and he continued to advance the needle. Stopping just before he made contact he double checked the position and angle of the needle on the screen, and looked over to Laura who gave him a silent nod.

He pushed the needle forward a millimetre at a time, and felt a slight resistance in his paws before it gave way. Looking to the screen, he could see that the needle appeared to be inside the amniotic sac, and still well away from the fetus. "I'm in." He said, and moved slowly to begin aspirating some of the fluid into the small syringe attached to the needle.

"Go slow Dave. You're only going to get a cc out of this if you're lucky." Laura said, her eyes moving between the screen and the syringe as he drew back the plunger.

Dave didn't reply, and was fully focused on the ultrasound image. As the mostly clear fluid began to fill the syringe, he watched the amniotic sac begin to shrink. He stopped long before the volume reached a dangerous point, and gently withdrew the needle away from the fetus. Once the danger had passed, he looked at the small syringe. Just over a millilitre of fluid was present, but he hoped that it would be enough.

"Got it! Get this down to the lab ASAP." He said, and twisted off the syringe before placing it into the opaque container waiting in Sara's paws. The sample needed to be protected from the light as much as possible, and she quickly snapped the lid shut before dashing out of the room.

Looking up Dave moved to fit another syringe onto the end of the needle. "Do we have time to collect the second sample?" He asked.

Doug shook his head. "It's been 5 minutes already. It probably wouldn't have helped regardless, but we can't take the chance."

Dave nodded in agreement and withdrew the needle fully from Janet. Laura was ready and slapped a bandage onto the small puncture wound before looking over to Tommy. "We got it Mr. Rey and everything went fine. You can move now."

Dave looked over to Tommy, whose gaze was still fixed on his mate. "Did you hear that Janet? It worked. You can wake up now."

Doug reached over and placed a paw on Tommy's shoulder. "She'll start to wake up in another minute or so. You did great Tommy."

Dave, Laura and Gina continued to look at the ultrasound image, and all three were smiling under their masks, as they couldn't see any problems. " _It's still too small to be sure, but IT WORKED!"_ Dave thought to himself as he took a deep breath and let the tension slip from him and he pulled the mask from his face.

Laura punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Nice job Dr. Hawthorne." She said as she removed her own muzzle mask, a smile firmly placed on her face. "Now for a far more important question. Who gets stuck writing up the case study?"

Doug was the first to reply. "There's only one real option, and we all know it." The rabbit extended a clenched paw. "Roshambo; odd mammal out has to write up the first draft."

Dave and Laura laughed but each extended a similarly clenched paw. Doug nodded and then spoke. "3, 2, 1, Shoot!"

Both Dave and Laura held out their paws palms down, while Doug kept his clenched. A scowl formed on his muzzle. "Drat! I should have pulled rank."

Tommy was looking between the three doctors with a confused look in his eyes. Seeing that they had all removed their masks, he reached up and pulled down his own. "Did you just use rock, paper, scissors?"

"Yes we did Tommy, and Dr. Wilson now has to write up a paper as a result." Dave replied, once again chuckling at the scenario. "Some things work no matter your age or profession."

The fox shook his head and laughed. "Janet won't believe that."

A quiet sound came from the table, and Tommy's ears perked up instantly. "Janet!" He said as his free paw reached out to cup her cheek.

Doug returned his focus to his patient, and he went about checking her vitals. "Give her a moment Tommy. This takes a little longer than when you wake up in the morning."

All three physicians waited with Tommy, checking Janet's reactions every now and then as she regained consciousness.

As Doug promised, it wasn't long before Janet's eyes fluttered open. It took her a moment before she found her focus, but as she had asked for, the first thing she saw was the smiling face of her husband.

* * *

After ensuring that the Rey's were again settled in, Dave, Laura, and Doug had taken a few minutes to make notes about every part of the procedure. This was quite possibly a medical first, and the technique may end up being vital for early detection of genetic disorders. Both Laura and Dave had smiles on their muzzles as they left Doug with the task of organizing the notes into a paper, and made their way down to the first floor to check on Catherine.

There had only been 2 new patients to arrive at the Centre, and Cat had both of them well in paw. Looking over the charts, Dave saw that, in all likelihood, another mammal would be losing her kit today, and another would be told that it wasn't even a possibility.

He gave a small laugh and shook his head. " _Then again, a few hours ago, a fox-wolf hybrid was impossible. Funny how the impossible can sometimes happen."_

In science, something that was impossible one day, could become a possibility next. Shortly thereafter, it could even be commonplace. " _So much has changed in the last decade."_ He thought. " _We just need to keep fighting to make it happen."_ It was a common mantra for the him, as well as all of the staff, and the presence of the Rey's both laid bare how far they had come...but how much farther they still needed to go.

Seeing that things were under control, and that it would still be a few hours before Ms. Clawson would arrive, he made his way down to the lab, as there were other battles to be fought. He might be able to help Francis process the cells from the amniocentesis, and he was anxious to see if they had managed to get enough tissue to work with.

As he stepped out of the elevator, his eyes were drawn to the line of pictures taped to the wall and extending towards the lab.

"What the fuck." He said quietly to himself before the meaning dawned on him. Shaking his head he made his way into the airlock. " _I'm a dead wolf walking."_ He thought glumly. He knew that Laura wouldn't forget that he hadn't been appropriately _congratulated_ , and the longer the delay, the worse it was going to be.

As he entered into the shower, he looked at the picture of his friend, and spoke directly to it. "Jim you lucky bastard; you got off _easy._ "

* * *

The lab had also been a whirlwind of activity, and most of the night staff were still present. There was a line waiting outside of the flow cytometry room, as Penny and Francis worked to separate out the fetal cells. Over the next few hours, 10 of those precious cells had been brought forward for sequencing, while the remaining ones, and there were not many to begin with, had been placed into the care of Dr. Kent, who separated them out into a series of flasks where they would hopefully grow and multiply over the coming hours.

He had settled in with Arnold and Penny working on the single cell sequencing preps, and they had just managed to begin the first round of amplification when the alarm he had set for himself started to beep. The sound stopped him in his tracks, as reality once again reasserted itself.

The truth was that he had come down here to escape from the clinic, even for just a few hours. That alarm meant that Ms. Clawson would be arriving within the next half hour, and he would be needed upstairs. As much as he disliked what he was about to do, it was his duty, and a burden that he wouldn't place on any other mammal.

After showering and donning a new set of scrubs he retrieved his lab coat and made his way to the first floor. After checking in with Mina at the nurse's station, and confirming that Isara hadn't yet arrived, he made his way to the assigned procedure room towards the rear of the Centre. Upon entering he saw that Sara had already prepped the room for the procedure. The ultrasound machine was set up beside the standard exam table, and a tray containing the speculum, laminaria sticks, and a local anesthetic could be seen under a plastic coating, keeping them sterile.

Everything was ready except for one final element…something that he insisted on being the sole mammal involved in. As was the case earlier today, a long needle could also be seen on the tray, but the syringe wasn't yet present.

He walked to a cabinet at the back of the room and retrieved a fresh syringe as well as an ampule of digoxin from the small fridge in the room. Carefully drawing up the liquid, he measured out the appropriate dose.

Only 1mg of the active compound was needed.

It took only 1mg to stop a heart.

Throughout his schooling and residency, he had heard every euphemism there was for the act.

' _Sending them on their way'_

' _Putting them to sleep'_

' _Taking them to a better place'_

All of it boiled down to the same thing; taking one life to help another. That it was necessary was unquestioned, and he would always respect the patient's wishes in this regard, but it still struck to the core of who he was, and to the oaths that he had taken.

" _A doctor is supposed to heal, not kill."_ He thought. The same monologue playing out in his mind every time he had to do this. " _What am I supposed to do when I have to do the latter to achieve the former?"_

It had been the hardest lesson he had ever learned.

"I will do my duty." He said quietly to the empty room. It was the only answer he had come up with.

* * *

After ensuring that everything was in its proper place, he left the procedure room and retreated back to the staff lounge. He had been going full bore for almost 8 hours already, and it would probably be another 6 before he would leave for the day. Knowing that some of the preliminary sequencing results would start coming in around that time made him hesitate, as a small part of him considered the merits of him staying to begin the analysis if required.

He forcefully shut that part of his mind away with an all too real snarl. His mate needed him, and he _WOULD_ be there for her.

His mood remained clouded as he quickly ate another random frozen entrée from his freezer shelf, as well as ensuring that his caffeine levels were topped off. This had probably been his 8th mug of coffee today, but it was going to be needed, and he was still well away from any of the _really_ negative consequences.

Running through the dosage calculations in his head gave him something else to focus on until the buzzing of his phone told him that it was time.

He made his way back to the procedure room and saw that both of the Clawsons were present, along with Gina, who was already getting the ultrasound prepped for use. William's presence wasn't much of a surprise, as he had invariably been there to support his wife in the previous visits.

He nodded in greeting as he entered and proceeded to begin washing up in the sink. "Hello, Isara, William." Looking over at the two he could see and smell the nervousness in both of them. Isara had already had an IV line inserted into her right paw, but it was just saline drip at this point, and Dave didn't anticipate needing any additional medications other than potentially the local anaesthetic.

"Good afternoon Dr. Hawthorne." Isara chimed in. The cheerful tone of her voice didn't match the expression on both her and her husband's faces, but that was only natural given the circumstances.

He forced a smile onto his muzzle, but his underlying thoughts weren't conducive to the act. " _Not much good about it."_ He thought silently, but forced his mask to remain in place. "Before we get started, did you have any questions about the procedure today, or for what will be happening tomorrow?"

Both mammals shook their heads. "No doctor, we went over the materials, and had already done some research on it. We know what needs to happen." William said; his own voice couldn't mask the sadness that he felt as well as Isara, but he was trying…probably for her more than anything else.

Dave nodded and put on a pair of gloves before making his way to the foot of the table. "OK, Isara, we'll start with another ultrasound so that I can see how things look. He glanced over to the cheetah and nodded his head. "Ms. Talon, if you would be so kind."

Gina nodded and proceeded to apply the lubricating gel to Isara's abdomen, and began manoeuvring the wand until an image of the fetus came into view. As with the previous exam, the screen had been angled away from the two foxes, so they wouldn't need to see physical manifestation of their loss, but for Dave and Gina, it was all too real no matter how many times they had experienced it.

As before, the open skull was plainly visible, and as the cheetah moved the wand around, the myelomeningocele could clearly be seen. Something caught Dave's eye, or rather the lack of something.

"Gina, can you get an image of the thoracic region?" He asked, as he looked more closely at the screen.

"Yes doctor." She replied, and proceeded to use the image to focus on the contents of the chest.

Dave looked at the screen intently for a solid minute, and then sighed. " _It looks as though nature made the decision for me."_ He thought to himself, and he would have been lying if he didn't feel a weight lift from him as he looked at the small unbeating heart.

He needed to be sure though, and removed the stethoscope from around his neck. "I'm just going to take a listen Isara." He said before placing the instrument on her rounded belly. For another minute, all he could hear were the sounds of Isara's heart. The fainter second beat was silent.

He sat back up. "Isara, William, It may not mean much, but I've been unable to detect any heartbeat. Based on the ultrasound, we won't need to go ahead with the digoxin injection." He paused for a moment, and he saw both sadness as well as relief flash across their muzzles.

Isara was the first to speak. "Do you know when it happened?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Dave shook his head. "I'm sorry, no. Not with any certainty." He tried to have a comforting smile on his face, but he knew that it looked like the lie it was. "Based on the timing, we won't need to admit you for observation, and the procedure tomorrow can go ahead as scheduled."

Gina handed over some paper towels so the fennec fox could clean her stomach, and then Dave motioned for her to place her hind paws into the stirrups. "I'll be inserting the laminaria sticks now, but first I'm going to numb your cervix to make it more comfortable. After the insertion, there may be some cramping and spotting overnight, but if you start to experience any strong contractions, come in right away."

He looked towards her, and she nodded her head, as her husband took her paw in his own. Dave moved quickly, and after inserting the speculum to spread apart the vaginal walls, he briefly washed the cervix with a mild soap, and applied the numbing gel to the region.

After giving the gel a minute to work, he started inserting the thin sticks into the cervical opening. Each was made of dried seaweed, and over the next day, they would swell and expand the cervical opening, and allow him access for the D&E.

Once he was done, he motioned for Isara to sit up. "That's it." He said. "You're free to either be admitted overnight, or if you prefer you can go home and sleep in your own beds."

The two foxes chuckled slightly at the comment. "We'll take the latter option I think." William said, as he helped his wife hop down from the table.

Dave nodded in understanding and reached over to Isara's chart and retrieved some additional material for them. "If you do have any issue, don't hesitate to call, and if something does come up, and you can't make it in tomorrow, please let me know as soon as possible."

After shaking each mammals paw, he motioned for Gina and him to leave the room and allow Ms. Clawson some privacy so she could get dressed. It was an odd concession considering that they both had just literally seen all that was possible to be seen in the little fox, but there were some customs that just were.

* * *

Once he had ensured that both the Clawsons were on their way, Dave returned to the lab to continue helping with whatever could be done with regards to the Reys. As before, the lab was almost full, and most of the mammals were clustered around one of the BGSeqs. As Dave approached, Genevieve turned to greet him.

"Welcome back! The first rapid run's almost done on Mr. Rey's sample." She said while motioning back towards the monitor.

Arnold was seated at the attached terminal and sighed heavily. "You guys know that this will be uploaded to the server as soon as it's done, right? You don't all need to crowd around here."

"Oh hush Arnold." Penny stated with some annoyance. "I've been waiting for this run to finish since just past one in the morning. I haven't slept or eaten in almost 24 hours, and I damn well am going to be standing wherever I want when this data comes in."

Given the comical size disparity between the hippo and bobcat, there should have been no real sense of threat, but Arnold swallowed audibly and nodded his head.

The group returned their gaze to the sequencer, and the slowly filling progress bar that indicated that the results were coming…and maybe with them, some answers.

* * *

As it turned out, he had had just enough time to help Donny get the first set of sequence fragments into the new assembly pipeline before he had to leave for the day. They both knew that there wasn't enough data to fully construct Mr. Rey's genome at this time, but it would start to give them answers…at least when it finished, which Donny anticipated as being at least 8 hours for the assembly, and another 5 to 10 for the annotation.

Regardless, he had made his way out of the Centre with time to spare, and made a quick stop at the flower shop strategically placed across from the hospital before catching a Zuber home. From the car parked in the driveway, he knew that Carol was already home, and he quickly made his way up the stairs and into the house.

It was strangely quiet, and the normal sounds of the TV or even the radio were absent. "Carol, are you here?" He asked from the front foyer.

"I'm upstairs Dave." He relaxed slightly at the sound of her voice and made his way up to the second floor. He poked his head into the master bedroom and saw that Carol was there. She was still in her training sweats, and she smiled when she saw him.

"I just got in myself, so I didn't have a chance to really get things organized, but I think you'll be OK with my plans for the evening." She said as she walked towards him, with a malicious twinkle in her eyes.

When she reached him, her paws cupped his face and she pulled him down into a deep kiss. He gave a slight hum of approval as he embraced her with his arms and drew the two of them closer together.

With a small chuckle, she pushed away and spun behind him, placing herself between him and the door. As he turned to face her, he had a wary look on his face, and she laughed as she extended a single digit against his chest and gently started pushing him deeper into the room.

"Remember when I said, I needed your help tonight?" She asked, and glanced up to look him directly in his eyes. He was taken aback by what he saw there. Her voice was filled with the capricious tones that he was used to, but her eyes were asking, no pleading for him to trust her.

As realization dawned on him, he saw that her smile started to spread to her eyes, and he knew that she had seen the truth in his own gaze, which he didn't need a mirror to know what they said.

" _Always!"_

She took a deep breath before continuing. "Dave, I need to take something back…I don't know if that makes any sense, but I need to take something back, and I need your help to do it."

He reached out both his paws, and cupped her cheeks, mirroring the same pose that she had used on him only moments before. Bending down once again, they shared a hungry kiss, each exploring the other before Dave pulled away. "Whatever you need, I'm not going anywhere."

The coy smile once again crested her muzzle and she gave a sigh. "Good." Was all she said before her paws moved more quickly than Dave could follow, reaching up to tear open the front of his shirt and running both paws through the fur on his chest. She looked him in the eyes before pushing him back onto the bed. Once again, they pleaded with him to trust her, to help her, and so he did, and he let go of himself.

There was a deep seeded need to Carol's actions, and the two of them became entwined together, testing, pushing, tearing away their coverings, both physical and emotional, leaving each of them truly naked before the other. Dave's breath was taken away as he looked over to his mate, and the hurt that was still present in her eyes; the pain that had taken root in the void that remained when Watterman had stolen a piece of her once again. Instinctively he knew what was needed, and he drew her close, and a low growl in his throat rumbled through him and warded the two against the shade that had taken hold of her heart. A matching growl rose from her throat as she grasped onto him and let lose the fear that had gripped her. Moving her muzzle to his, she drank deeply of him, sharing the very air they breathed. The two move closer together, and they simply let go of everything.

Conscious thought left them as they moved with a hunger that ran much deeper than simple pleasure. They read each other using all of their senses, their two bodies becoming as one, moving in concert; sensing and reacting to their needs before the thoughts even had a chance to form. Each touch, sound, and movement was matched as they drew ever closer.

As they moved with ever greater desperation, the needs of one were fed by the other; each one filling in the voids that remained in their mate. The sounds of tearing fabric mixed with their voices as every fibre of their being was focused on the realization of one blinding truth; that they were one.

The thought wasn't a conscious one, and it never would be, but it was the key that unlocked something within each of them. Their cries and motions worked in synchrony, building towards a single moment. As their movements became quicker and more frantic, each opened themselves up fully to the other. Feeling the shared passion flow between the two of them, the concepts of I and you fell away from their minds, and all that remained was a single blinding moment of unity that washed over them.

As the moment passed, individuality and thought returned to both mammals. Both were still locked together, entwined by their emotions, their bodies, and on a deeper level. Dave looked down at his mate, whose head was now pillowed on his chest, her breathing still in time with his own. She looked up into his gaze, and he didn't need to ask her if she had regained that piece of herself; her eyes told him the truth, as they always did.

Allan Watterman was well and truly dead. Both knew that his memory may return, but it was only a shade; something ephemeral that only had what power they granted it. For now, it could find no hold in Carol. It had been driven out by a simple truth known to both of them.

He was hers, and she was his.

Against all that they would face, now and in the future, this fundamental truth was an aegis against it all.

They were one.

* * *

**Notes:**

Well once again, I'm going to try and keep these notes a bit shorter than in some chapters. WildeNick has just finished editing the chapter, and I want to get it up as soon as I can. As a result, I'll leave the section on Zootopian evolution for the next chapter, and instead cover a slightly different topic.

**Physical Dexterity in Zootopia: Equines Got the Short End of the Stick…and Also Can't Even Pick it Up!**

This was an aspect of the story that I didn't want to mention explicitly until it was well underway, but as it was brought up in Michael's comments on AO3, I may as well bring it into the open.

Did any of you notice something a bit off with the demographics at the Centre? If not, give a quick look over the mammals that have been shown to date, and look at the kind of species that they represent.

Do you see it now?

The Centre is right around 50% predator species, but Zootopia as a whole is mostly prey, with only 10% of the general population classified as predators.

Why the discrepancy? Quite simply, paws.

With the exception of various rodent species, most herbivorous species are ungulates (even toes or odd toed) and even allowing for some evolutionary pressure towards additional mobility these species would lag far behind mammals with paws when it comes to being able to grasp and manipulate objects. Quite simply, the bone structure in the wrists and feet isn't conducive to much in the way of movement, let alone fine manipulation of objects. In a field such as medicine, this has real implications for what specialties would be possible for many of these mammals.

In the Centre, there are 3 prey physicians, Doug Wilson, Jim Cerval and Jason Kent. Of these, both Jason and Jim have specialties that require less fine motor skill than their counterparts. Jim is an anaesthesiologist/OBGYN, Jason is a haematologist/OBGYN. All the surgical staff (Laura, Dave, and Doug…yes he has a 3rd) are pawed mammals. The even toed ungulates have positions all over the centre, but not in those areas where very high manual dexterity is required.

In some remarkable cases, an individual may have a much higher level of dexterity than normal, and an ungulate species might be able to make it through the training and certification process, but it would probably be rare.

Quite simply, I don't think there are any ungulate neurosurgeons out there, odd or even-toed. Improved robotic and laparoscopic techniques can help things, but the base limitation in being able to grasp remains to some extent. If you've ever had to rapidly make some sutures, you know it's not something that's easy to do with thick gloves on…let alone where you only have 2 digits on each hand.

One big hole in the Centre's demographic is equines (odd-toed ungulates). In fact there are no equines on the medical side of things at all. Percy is the only equine in the centre and he's a lab mammal, with no clinical responsibilities. Having a single hoof on each limb makes grasping objects a difficult task, and although it's highly likely that prosthetics and improved ergonomic design can offset this somewhat, the poor equines really would have a more difficult time dealing with all aspects of Zootopia life.

Once scene from the movie that made me do a double take was the press conference where a horse can be seen holding onto a camera. If you look closely, it can be seen that they're sandwiching the camera between their hoofs, but would this be enough in reality? For the even-toed species, some ability to pinch the digits together would make grasping difficult, but not impossible. For zebra's and horses, some additional aids would almost certainly be needed. This could take the form of improved grip surfaces, additional usage of straps or other self-adjusting tie downs, or even something a bit more high tech, such as a worn or implanted electromagnet that could be controlled by the wearer.

Obviously other modifications would be required to work with some technology. Larger keys, and the inclusion of resistance based touchscreens can help (capacitive screens might still work with the keratin hoof, but I'm not certain about that), could help equine species manage their day to day lives, but seeing the ease that some species could navigate and interact with the world would probably be a bit annoying.

I'll go more into the kinds of modifications that are probable in the Zootopian evolution musings after the next chapter, but for now, I'll leave off with this final horrible thought.

What options for toilet paper analogues would work for equines?

* * *

Regardless, I'll cut things off there and move into another **Science Time!**

So this chapter had the usual technical jargon, and most of it has been covered in previous chapters. I will spend some time on a few elements that were featured a bit more prominently.

 **Microchromosomes:** Red foxes are weird. Microchromosomes are very common in birds, fish and reptiles, but are almost completely absent from mammals…except for _Vulpes vulpes_. In looking through the literature, only red foxes seem to maintain microchromosomes to a similar degree as in other classes. Why this is the case is pretty much unknown, but there are some interesting aspects to them that should be noted.

  1. They rarely contain essential genes. This is pretty much an obvious one. Due to their variable nature, with their number and sizes varying between individuals, these microchromosomes don't generally house genes that are essential for the survival of the organism.
  2. They're mostly heterochromatin. As was explained earlier, heterochromatin are regions on the chromosomes where the DNA is maintained in a tightly packed format. This serves to prevent transcription of the individual genes, and is a way for the cell to regulate gene expression in an epigenetic manner. This also means that any gene encoded in the microchromosomes will tend to only be expressed at a very low level…if at all.
  3. However, the methylation status of the microchromosomes is HIGHLY variable in some species (and no one's looked at the red fox). So these genes can get turned on under the right conditions. What those are, I have no idea, but I don't feel so bad because neither does anyone else.
  4. There are examples of gross changes to microchromosomes in the form of both chromosome fission and fusion. Basically, a normal chromosome can become truncated and reduced to a microchromosomes, but also the reverse is true, two or more microchromosomes can fuse, either with each other, or with another chromosome and give rise to a new variant. In mammals, this generally doesn't happen in the germline cells (eggs and sperm), but has been observed in several cell cultures. As these cell cultures place a considerable stress on the cells, it's not known if this is an artefact of the culture system, or a natural event.



Regardless, they are an interesting feature in red foxes.

 **Amniocentesis:** This technique is pretty much as described in the story. When a genetic condition is suspected in human fetuses, cells suspended from within the amniotic fluid are used for genetic screens. It's normally only done after the first trimester (16-18 weeks), but instances of it being used as early as 9 weeks exist in the literature. The risks associated with the procedure include direct physical damage to the fetus, rupturing the amniotic sac, the introduction of pathogens to the uterus, and infection. The further along a pregnancy has progressed does serve to minimize the risk, but the merits and risks need to be evaluated to determine if it's required.

In the case of Janet and Tommy, the need to determine any genetic issues early on in the pregnancy would be use. Letting the fetus grow just means more cells, more differentiated tissue, and a greater chance that they won't be able to correct the genetic flaws in all of the pup's cells. Remember, with only a few exceptions, every cell in the body has a copy of the genome. If a defective gene is expressed in every cell, you need to have a corrected version inserted into every cell, or else you run the risk of the disorder occurring. Same thing with tissue specific expression. If there's a faulty _ttn_ gene present (a key component of muscle cells), you need to replace every muscle cell's copy with a functional TTN gene, otherwise you'd end up with patches of tissue with the aberrant protein.

 **Flow Cytometry:** This is the laser of impedance based system to sort cells into one of several categories. If you've never had a chance to see one of these machines in action, they are kind of awesome…well if you're a science nerd at least. What they do is very precisely sort cells based on a number of conditions. The cells are in a liquid suspension, and are passed through a detector in a single stream, as each cell enters, it is measured for a quality such as size, electromagnetic charge, fluorescence, and directed into any number of channels. This means that cells of different types, or from different sources, can be separated.

In this story, as the fetus' cells are expected to have both Canis and Vulpes surface proteins, fluorescent probes that target these probes will only bind to the fetal cells, not to the maternal ones, which are pure wolf. Having any of Janet's cells in the mix would make the DNA sequencing a nightmare to try and figure out, so it represented the best option.

 **Embryo Reabsorption:** As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, a large number of pregnancies fail before the female even knows that she's pregnant. In these cases, there isn't usually a miscarriage in the normal sense. The fetus…if it's even reached that stage is so small that it just gets broken down and reabsorbed into the maternal tissue.

 **Single Cell Sequencing:** This is an amazing advancement when it comes to sequencing…but it has major issues as well. The ability to fully sequence an organism's genome from a single cell was literal science fiction even a decade ago, but we are very close to this being the reality…as long as you're willing to trade off some accuracy.

The key weakness of this technique is in the amount of amplification that's required to obtain enough genetic material to use in the next generation sequencing platforms. Under ideal conditions, you don't perform ANY amplification, but this requires micrograms of DNA, and a cell normally only has a few pictograms (one million times less).

The problem arises from two main facets:

  1. Amplification Bias: Most amplification reaction (Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Multiple Displacement Amplification (MDA), or PicoPLEX which is a combination of the two), make use of random or degenerate primers. DNA polymerases require these primers to begin the synthesis of the complementary DNA strand, and these primers are supposed to bind evenly across the genome…but they don't. What this means is that you end up with some regions of the genome being amplified more frequently than others, and some not at all. This skews the sequencing results, and results in a range of coverage.
  2. Amplification errors: No copying system is perfect, and biological systems are no exception. Imagine you had to copy out a book with billion letters. Even if it was only composed of different letters, eventually you'd probably make a mistake and not catch it. Each round of amplification, the DNA polymerases make occasional errors, ranging from one error every few thousand bp to only one error every few million base pairs (depend on the enzyme). Regardless, the fact that you need to take a single copy of the genome and amplify it to a point where you've made several million copies means that it's going to have multiple errors.



When you take these two issues together, I hope you can see the problem. Yes we can get an organism's sequence from a single cell, but our confidence that that sequence is accurate is very low. This is why, in this chapter, 10 different cells are being sequenced. Running these samples would cost the equivalent to about $20,000-$100,000 worth of reagents, and would be beyond the capacity of all but the most well-funded institutions. Fortunately for Janet and Tommy, the Centre is just such an institution.

 **Tetraploid Sequencing Nightmares:** So part of this chapter had Dave and Donny trying to work up an assembly algorithm for a tetraploid individual, and some of you might have wondered what the big deal is. It comes down to nucleotide frequency. As I wrote earlier, next generation sequencing produces billions of small fragments of DNA that are sequenced and assembled into chromosomes by comparing the sequences and pairing up overlapping reads.

Under normal conditions, there are 2 copies of each chromosome, and they're usually pretty close to each other. Down to the level where most databases only show the haploid (single copy) genotype. Individual assays like Genotype by Sequence or Genome Wide Association Studies take this one step further and look at the degree of variation at any given nucleotide position to determine exactly which one is on which chromosome of a pair.

…but remember that the sequencers also make mistakes. At any given nucleotide, the error rate for even the best next gen platforms is 1 error per 1,000 base pairs. So what the software does is that it looks at the nucleotides at a given position, and determines which are the most represented.

For example, let's say that we do a sequencing run and a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) is identified, and out of 100 reads covering an area A shows up 30 times, C shows up 40 times, but T and G show up 15 times each. If this was a diploid species, the software would conclude that the SNP represents an A/C polymorphism, and the lower frequency nucleotides are just errors. In a tetraploid, things get more complicated, as each nucleotide can vary in up to 4 different chromosomes. As a result, all the alignment software needs to look for the overall frequency over a range of nucleotide probabilities, taking up considerably more time and resources.

Now one thing I haven't mentioned yet is, what will the genome of the fetus be? Give a guess in the comments, and we'll see who's been reading intently.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With that, I'll bring this chapter to a close. Once again, I apologize for the delay in getting this out the door, but on the bright side, you get over 20,000 words…holy crap 20,000!
> 
> …the next one will be shorter; I promise.
> 
> Once again my thanks go out to WildeNick for editing this, to CimarTualisWildeHopps for letting me bounce ideas off of. Go and give both of their stories a read.
> 
> Also a thank you to Kittah4. I added in another two of his Celestials to the mix this time around. Order and Chaos represent two "major" deities, and their usage in this story seemed appropriate for a case that encompass both qualities so nicely.
> 
> Please leave a comment, question or review, and until next time.
> 
> Eng050599


	10. Chapter 10: Rejection and Loss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I went and did it again. Another chapter far too late, but at least I do provide value when it comes to length, as it’s another doozy. 
> 
> Almost 19,000 words without any thank you’s or Science Time! notes.
> 
> Now in this case, it is very much a sorry, not sorry moment. I do regret that it took so long to get this chapter out the door, but the reason for it was some exciting results in the lab.
> 
> So my apologies for being late, but at least I was being productive.
> 
> This chapter was also difficult to write because of the content. I outlined some of this in the intro to chapter 9, but now that it’s on the page, I’m going to be including some more concrete warnings.
> 
> This chapter contains two incredibly sad scenes. As always, I try to keep things as realistic as possible, and not glorify any of the more messy elements. There will be both an infant fatality, as well as a late term abortion in this chapter, and readers who may find these events disturbing may want to give this chapter a pass. 
> 
> Now with the warnings out of the way, I’d like to again thank WildeNick for editing this behemoth. IF you’d please show him some love and go read his stories Good Cops Like You, and Three Months a Fox. 
> 
> Since the last chapter, there has been another cameo appearance of some of the characters from Lost Causes in Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps Always My Sly Bunny, Always My Dumb Fox. Carol gets to lend a paw in the latest chapter. As always, he’s been a great sounding board for various ideas, and it was a honor to get to contribute to his work.
> 
> Thanks also go out to everyone who commented on the story since the last update.
> 
> From FanFiction
> 
> J Shute Norway: I swear I am working on that Dramatis Personae for the story. I just prioritized getting this chapter out the door. Hopefully, the partial list that I sent you has helped make sense of the various mammals in and around the story.
> 
> Elderdrake: I’m glad that the story has continued to keep your attention. Being able to incorporate the science into the narrative is a challenge at times, and I hope that I’m hitting the right balance. As for the bathroom issues for equines, the herbivorous diet would help, but I can definitely imagine that the high end, Japanese style toilets would be MUCH more popular in Zootopia.
> 
> Chorpion: I really wanted to make the point that the Centre’s staff are very close to each other, and in the case of Dave and Jim, they really are tight friends.
> 
> jamdea: I hope that the new charting system has been implemented with a minimum of frustration. Also, I hope that the notes regarding the D&E protocols made sense.
> 
> tomcatace99: I promise nothing with regards to the Rey’s. Make sure to write down your prediction, and we’ll see if it was correct when this tale finally wraps up.
> 
> Gamer4COD: Thanks for the vote of confidence, and who knows if this endeavor will lead to something original that could be published. I would be remiss if I didn’t ask that you take care of yourself, and let’s hope that you beat that prediction by a few decades at least.
> 
> Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps: As always I thank you for your input. One of the scenes we had discussed earlier shows up in this chapter, and I hope I did it justice. It was a pleasure to help out with AMSBAMDF, and I hope to be able to do it again.
> 
> Nicolaiwulf: The last chapter was a bit lighter…this one is not. Hopefully those scenes are as powerful as I thought when planning them out.
> 
> Berzerker88: The Rey’s will remain a mystery for now, but I’m glad that you’re enjoying their plotline. 
> 
> From AO3
> 
> WildeHoppsForever: Thanks for your comment regarding chapter 4. I hope that my explanation has helped to flesh out that scene, and also explain some of Carol’s reasons for taking things so far. 
> 
> Michael: Aside from me making some questionable literature recommendations, I’m glad that you’ve enjoyed the story so far. I hope to be able to keep the quality…but don’t expect anything too spicy from me. 
> 
> WolfGuardMiestwin: Thanks for reminding me about the glory of Demolition Man. That film was one of the cheezy highlights of the 1990’s.
> 
> wherethecoffee: Great questions regarding the use of CVS as opposed to amniocentesis, as well as the gender issue at the Centre. Hopefully the answers worked for you, and the story is now definitely over 100,000 words.
> 
> As for me writing a fluffy story. I actually hope to be able to eventually, but who knows if I’ll be any good at it. I’ve got depressing and tragic down pat I think though ;-)
> 
> CAPTAINPRICE79: You get to see some the Centre’s resources come into play in this chapter…and I still need to see that Evil Dead remake.

 

* * *

**Chapter 10: Rejection and Loss**

Dave stood in front of the procedure room’s sink, holding the small, unmoving form in his gloved paws. It was yet another failure on his part. His deeply analytical mind knew that, as was almost always the case, there was nothing that could have been done to prevent it, but this fact was a cold comfort to the pain in his heart.

As he turned on the water, he subconsciously chastised himself after he had instinctively checked its temperature. The kit was already dead, and well past being able to feel the cold, but some part of him could never help but treat them as if they were. He justified it to himself as being a minor gesture of respect...but he knew that deep down it was also a longing to undo the wrong nature had inflicted on this mammal.

It was a futile and illogical act, but he couldn't bring himself to stop. He waited until the water reached a lukewarm temperature, then placed a basin into the sink and let the water fill it before finally immersing the kit’s remains.

 _“Why am I doing this?”_ He asked himself internally, as he began to carefully wash away the afterbirth that was coating the kit’s fur. The light beige of its coat was gradually revealed as his paws worked gently through its coat. He was careful not to rupture the sac protruding from the base of its spine. He needed to make this as easy as he could on Ms. Clawson...on Isara and her husband.

He knew the answer to his question. “ _Because she asked to see him.”_ and that was more than enough. They needed to see this. They needed to see the physical representation of their loss. In the long term, he knew that it would help...but he also knew all too well just how badly this would hurt them.

This was the second failure for him today, and he knew that what would come next would be the most difficult part. The first had been tragic and unexpected, but this was something that he knew would haunt him for quite some time.

Bringing his thoughts back to the kit in his paws, he thought back on a day of failure; a day that had started out so promising.

* * *

 6 hours earlier

Sitting in the car in front of the Honeywell Centre, Dave managed to extricate himself from his mates embrace. The previous evening’s events had been a revelation for both of them, and they were still trying to figure out if it had rekindled something that had gone quiescent over the years, or represented some new fundamental truth between the two of them.

Regardless of the source, the two had only begrudgingly given way to sleep, and upon waking it had taken every ounce of self-control that they possessed to keep focused on preparing for their day. It was fortunate that they weren’t both so far gone as to not realize that they had responsibilities outside of each other, although the looks on both their faces as they gazed into each other’s eyes said that this was only the start of something new. Something wonderful, for both of them.

For now however, responsibility had to reassert its dominance on both their lives. He was needed in the Centre, and Carol had meetings scheduled for most of the day over at the ZAF’s central office. Both of them were professional enough to realize that calling in sick just so that they could continue on as heat addled teenagers was nothing more than a foolish fantasy, and something that neither of them would tolerate...but that didn’t mean that either had to be happy about it.

“You know, I think I’m having a harder time getting out of this car today than I did yesterday.” He said as he gave into Carol’s pull, as well as adding his own to the mix to bring their two muzzles together again.

Carol was the first to break the kiss with an unabashed giggle. “OK, for real this time Dave. We both need to get our day started...spirits why does saying that feel so wrong?” She had a coy smile on her muzzle as she forced both of her paws to grip the wheel before revving the engine in warning. “Get a move on, Doctor.” She said with a false malice that couldn’t hide the amusement in her eyes.

They were both enraptured with what had happened, but she was right. “I’m going, I’m going.” Dave said somewhat dejectedly as he exited the car. Noticing that Jim was waiting over in the smoker’s corner, as usual, he had a smile on his muzzle as he reached into his front pocket and retrieved the final two cigarettes from the pack.  He’d missed his usual nicotine fix yesterday, but rather than raising one to his muzzle, he reached back into the car and handed them over to his mate.

“Today was supposed to have been my last day, but I think it’s appropriate to turn over a new leaf starting now.” He smiled warmly at her as she theatrically broke the cigarettes in half, tossing the remains out of the window. “Happy belated birthday Carol.” He said, and she reached out her paw to grasp his own.

“You always were one to keep your promises you sweet wolf. I’m proud of you.” Looking out of the window, she gave out a sharp bark of laughter. “Awww, I think Jim saw that. He looks like he’s lost his soul mate. Diana will be devastated to hear that.”

Looking back over at the antelope, he could see that Jim had his head hung dramatically, and was cupping his face with his free hoof...while taking another draw from his cigarette at the same time.

“Hey, nicotine-based relationships are a hard thing to come by these days; especially at a hospital.” Dave said gravely, but he looked back at Carol before he continued. “But I can definitely say that there’s only one mammal who gets to call me their soul mate, and that’s you.”

Carol’s smile warmed even further at the comment, and he could see her fight to not reach out to him again, but they had tarried long enough, and with a laugh she returned her paws to the wheel. “I love you Dave...and thank you for being there; for always being there.”

Dave was about to respond when something obviously occurred to Carol. “Oh, were we still going out with the guys from the precinct tonight? With all that’s happened, I didn’t even think about cancelling.”

Dave considered it for a moment. “Are you feeling up to it hon? If you prefer to stay in, I think everyone would understand.”

Carol shook her head. “As nice as just heading home and continuing on from last night sounds, I think some activities of another nature might be worth considering. Did you want to drop by the salle, or did you need me to pick you up?” Looking him over, she gave him a disapproving glare. “You’ve been slacking off on your training. Only one session so far this week, and you only lasted 10 minutes before the...other lessons took precedence.”

“Uhhh, the salle I guess.” Suddenly suspicious of his mate. It was true that he hadn’t been able to train as much as she would have liked, but there was something more going on here.

“Good, I’ll see you at 7ish.” The impish glow was back in her eyes. “I’ll make sure to have a few of the ZPD officers stick around to put your through your paces. You’ve spent far too much time working with similarly sized mammals. It’s time to switch things up a bit.” She said, before gunning the engine again.

Dave only had enough time to utter a quick “Love you!” before slamming the door and seeing her race out of the parking lot.

Shaking his head at the implications whatever _‘switch things up a bit’_ could mean, he made his way over to the smoker’s corner in a return to the normal life at the Honeywell Centre.

Jim was looking right at him as he approached, his horned head shaking gravely. “So you went and gave in early? Do I mean so little to you?” He tried to maintain a dour demeanor, but his muzzle couldn’t help but slowly turn into a smile as he broke into an uncontrolled chuckle.

He managed to regain control fairly quickly, and took another draw from his cigarette, flicking the ash away before he continued. “So I take it Carol’s doing better today? I gotta admit that that was quite a show you two put on for...” He paused and checked his wristwatch, while a large smile crept across his muzzle. “7 minutes, and 25 seconds.”

Dave could feel a blush spreading under his fur, but managed to keep it from his face. “Oh, come on. It wasn’t that long...or that bad.” He said dismissively.

Jim broke into an almost manic laughter, and he fought for control before continuing. “Dave, what I just saw wouldn’t have been out of place under the bleachers at Craymore High. I know you and Carol have always been fairly affectionate, but that was something else.” He shook his head but he still had a warm smile on his muzzle. “I’m guessing that you’re still planning on going through with you big plan?”

Dave nodded, but had a slightly pensive look on his face. “Yeah, if anything, this has just shown how much I love her...and I’ve been an idiot for waiting so long.” He shook his head. “You know I was raised in a pretty traditional wolf household, right? We were a pack and a family, so you always respected and obeyed the alpha. When you paired off, you needed the blessing of all the parents involved.”

He gave a soft laugh at the ridiculousness of it. “I should have known that I couldn’t bridge the divide between Carol and ‘ _The Major_ ’. Her dad and her haven’t seen eye to eye on anything for over a decade; ever since she enlisted rather than going to college.” He looked over at Jim and sighed. “Since mom and dad died, I guess I just wanted that same feeling of family again; like what Becca’s managed with Allan and his folks, but Major Latrans just took Carol’s decision to date some _‘intellectual snob’_ doctor as another personal snub. If anything, I’ve probably driven them further apart...”

Dave sighed as Jim reached out a hoof and placed it on his shoulder. “Family quarrels are always messy, and they cut the deepest simply because they are family.” Jim gave a small laugh before continuing. “...but, I have to say, you _have_ been a bit of an idiot.”

Dave gave a bark of laughter at the comment. “No argument here. All it took was him telling me I was a _‘no good pup killer’_ to really drive home the point.” Dave felt the beginnings of a snarl starting to form at the memory, but shook his head to banish it. That event had happened just over a 6 months ago, and had been the last in a long line of attempts to gain some type of acceptance from the old coyote. The simple offer of lunch had been coldly rebuffed, and had ended with the accusation.

“You’re kidding me?” Jim said incredulously. “That asshole is a real piece of work.”

“You know what Jim?” Dave replied, with a coy grin on his muzzle. “I actually respected him for that. Lyle was never one to operate under false pretenses. If he didn’t approve of you, he never said anything behind your back that he wouldn’t say to your face.” He shrugged. “In a way he’s right, it is a part of the job. It didn’t matter to him if I don’t like that particular part, and neither does the good that we do. He told me so, and I gotta admit, it really hurt at the time, and it still does, but you know what? It was in that second that I decided, ‘to hell with him’, and started planning.”

He laughed again as he recalled Carol’s reaction to the comment. “He’s just lucky that I managed to talk Carol down. In this instance, patricide may very well have been cathartic for her, but it would put a damper on our relationship in the long term; what with the whole jail thing.” He looked over at Jim, who couldn’t help but see the malicious twinkle in his eye. “Her mother on the other hand was apparently _very_ upset with him when Carol told her about the incident.”

Jim had a laugh at that comment. “Oh, I can imagine how that worked out. You’ve told me plenty of times how Carol got her temper from her mom.” The antelope shook his head at the thought. “I take it he survived at least.”

“He did. Although several pieces of furniture did not.” Dave replied. “Marge has been on our side throughout the whole affair. She still loves the bastard, but she’s not going to let something like that slide. I know that she’ll be coming to the party...and if the Major comes along and tries anything, there will be enough ZPD members there to tranq both the Latrans females before they publically lynch him.”

Jim looked confused at the statement. “Don’t you mean they’d tranq him?”

“Do you think the little fact that he’s unconscious would stop Carol, let alone her mom, the retired Drill Sergeant?” Dave retorted, shaking his head. “Oh no, those two would have his pelt off before he even hit the floor.” He laughed, but then had another thought about the upcoming event. “Are you going to be able to make it? I’d really like to have you there Jim.”

Jim shrugged in reply, and motioned towards the Centre’s doors. “It’s all up in the air. The plan was that Doug was going to tell Jason to cover for me, but that’s been scuttled. As far as I know, he’s going to ask for volunteers, and if that doesn’t work, it will go to a lottery system.” He looked back to Dave before continuing. “There are a lot of mammals here who’d love to celebrate with you...provided she says yes of course, but who they’ll be is anybody’s guess.”

Dave sighed and rubbed his eyes with a paw. “Great, just what I needed. Another reason to hate that asshole.” Looking over to Jim he shook his head. “You know I’m going to ask you to be my best mammal, right? I’ll talk with Doug. We’ll work something out.”

Jim smiled and took a final draw from his cigarette, tossing away the butt with a practiced flick. “Dave, I’m honored, and of course I’ll be your best mammal.” Jim reached out and wrapped Dave in a rough hug. He quickly released the wolf however, and had a slightly fearful expression on his face.”...buuuut don’t ask Doug to do too much. Face it Dave, pretty well everyone here _wants_ to be there, but we need to have one physician on duty, preferably 2 given the time.” The antelope gave his head a shake and had a quiet chuckle. “That, and if Laura found out that I gamed the system in my favor, she might kill both of us.”

Dave joined in on Jim’s laughter at the thought...which was more accurate than either male wanted to really contemplate. “Fine Jim, I’m already on Laura’s shit list after the whole ‘Professor’ thing.” He acquiesced “I won’t try to influence Doug, but I will need to get the number of staff that’s going to be here. I’ll have the caterer bring dinner for everyone here...minus the wine of course!”

Jim gave him a surprised look at the offer. “That’s pretty generous of you. This thing’s already gotta be costing you a fortune just based on the numbers...and this isn’t even the wedding itself.”

Dave shrugged in reply. “It’s just money Jim.” He gave a small bark of laughter at the thought. “Heck, we’ve both joked that we could already retire on what we’ve earned over the years here.” His gaze turned towards the Centre, and fixed on one particular room on the second floor. “That’s not why we’re here though, and after a certain point, money just becomes a way of keeping score in a game that I don’t even want to play.”

Jim nodded thoughtfully. “You’re quite right on that, and that does bring us to a more pressing topic. We got preliminary confirmation that the fetus is a fox-wolf hybrid last night.”

Dave’s ears perked up, and his head snapped back to Jim. “How did you get the sequence data so quickly? Does Donny know?” He was already reaching for his phone when Jim waved a hoof to call him off.

“We don’t have sequence data just yet, but we were able to confirm both Vulpes and Canis surface markers on the fetal cells. Additionally, Penny used some of the sequencing library amplification for DNA fingerprinting.” He paused before continuing. “The STRs all lined up with a 50/50 split between Mr. and Ms. Rey. It’s still not conclusive, but it looks like she’s a true hybrid...but we still don’t know what conditions we’re going to be dealing with.”

Dave cocked his head to the side at the comment. “She? You’re certain?”

Jim nodded his head and motioned up to the window that Dave had been looking at a few moments ago. “We’re sure. Percy ran a full _Vulpes_ Y chromosome STR panel, and got bobcus.” He looked back to Dave. “I haven’t told the Rey’s anything yet. They hadn’t woken up when I last poked my head into the room.”

“We should probably wait to tell them until we get the preliminary sequence data back.” Dave said gravely. “Damn, this probably means that she’s got 3 X chromosomes. Two from Tommy and one From Janet. We had better hope that there’s been a lot of recombination on at least one of them or she’s certain to have issues from that alone.”

Jim sighed and looked back at Dave. “I know...it’s damn near all I’ve been thinking about since yesterday. She might suffer from every trisomy disorder in the book, but if that’s the case there’s fuck-all we can do, she’ll never make it to full term. Hell, we can’t even hope for a mosaic trisomy. This is going to be all or nothing.”

“If it was that bad Jim, we wouldn’t be talking about it. The pregnancy would never have made it this far if that was the case.” Dave reached out and gripped his friend’s shoulder. “We’ll see what the sequencing says, triage the disorders, and fix whatever we can. The floodgates have been opened, as Ms. Longfellow mentioned yesterday. As of now we have full access to whatever we need. Let’s just hope it’s enough.”

“We both know that hope is a dangerous thing to have around here Dave...but we’re not going to give up. Not now, not ever.” He paused and rubbed his chin with one hoof. “Percy mentioned that the preliminary assembly on Mr. Rey completed a couple of hours ago. The sequencing depth was as bad as we feared, and the contigs are really fragmented.”

“How fragmented are we talking about?” Dave asked, as the results could vary from things being merely difficult, to an utter impossibility.

“Over 100,000 contigs and scaffolds, and an N50 of 22kb.” Jim said without pause, and Dave cursed quietly.

“Shit, shit, shit! We can’t do much with that.” Dave began to pace back and forth, his mind working through the possibilities. “Did Percy have any hint as to what the problem is? Is it just a depth issue that we’ll be able to resolve when the full run is complete?”

Jim shook his head in reply. “Not entirely. He said something about the depth being an issue, but it would also appear that there’s a lot of repetitive DNA in the mix, and that it’s going to be an issue for assembling both Mr. Rey’s and the fetus’s genome.”

Dave cupped his muzzle with a paw as he worked through the problem. _“If they’re causing problems with the assembly, they’re big, and probably scattered throughout the chromatin. The BGSeq’s don’t have the read length to bypass that unless we use size-selected libraries, but those cap out at 10kb.”_ The answer came to him in a flash and he snapped his digits at the obviousness of it.

“The floodgates have been opened, and it’s time to start writing those cheques.” He said as he reached for his phone. “We need longer reads Jim. We’ll have sequencing data from the size-selected libraries sometime tonight when the standard sequencing runs are done, but even then we need more, and we need it now.”

He quickly dialed Donny’s number and tapped his hind paw impatiently while the phone rang. The bison was quick to pick up however, and his deep voice came over the line. “Dr. Widelhorn here.”

“Donny it’s Dave. This is going to sound odd, but who was your friend over at ZU who was going to be getting the new Sequel system really soon?” He asked without preamble.

The Sequel was the next version of the long read next generation sequencers, and although the Centre had an order in place, those machines were a hot commodity and it was first come, first served. He knew that the Centre had ordered 3 of the new units, but they were scheduled to arrive in about 5 weeks...and they didn’t have 5 weeks to spare.

“Hmmm? That would be Derek Messange over at ZU. Why are you asking?” The curiosity in his voice was clearly evident.

“We got confirmation that the fetus is a hybrid, and I’m about to make Dr. Messange very happy as a result. Mr. Rey’s genome apparently has a high content of repetitive DNA, and we’re going to need some additional read coverage to bridge the gaps.” He replied. “Do you happen to have his home number? He probably won’t be in his office just yet.”

Looking over at Jim, he could see the antelope’s eyes widen as he clued in on Dave’s plan. “I’ll call Doug, and get this conferenced together.” He said simply as he began dialing his own phone.”

Dave nodded and quickly added. “Also get Mr. Dray on the line, we’ll need legal’s help to draft up the paperwork.”

Donny gave a low rumble of a laugh over the phone. “Oh I see what you’re planning...and I like it. Derek and I have curled together for years. I’ll get him on the line.”

“Thanks Donny, I’ll put this call on hold while you bridge in Dr. Messange.” He said, and looked over to Jim, who was speaking quietly over his own phone. Jim nodded his head in response to something that had been said on the other end of the line, and then turned and offered the phone to Dave.

“Mr. Dray wants a summary of what you’re planning Dave.” He said, and Dave grabbed the offered phone from his hoof.

“Mr. Dray, it’s Dr. Hawthorne.” He said in greeting.

“I’m on the line as well Dave.” Doug’s voice called out. “I think I know what you’re scheming to do, and if I’m right, I approve, but explain it for Daniel.”

Another voice chimed in, first with a quiet laugh, but then more clearly addressed Dave. “Dr. Hawthorne, if you would please let me know why you need me two mornings in a row?”

Dave gave a small chuckle himself before speaking. “First, you should know that we have confirmation that the fetus is a true hybrid. I can’t give you any more information than that, but we have genetic evidence that points to it beyond a reasonable doubt.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line followed by a quick intake of breath. “OK, that’s already more than enough reason to call. I’ll inform the board of directors and the trustees immediately.”

“Before you go, we’ll need you to stay on the line.” Dave said and then paused. “We need to get a piece of equipment in here yesterday, but it’s currently going to be a 5 week wait...I’m going to make a mammal an offer that they can’t refuse, but we’ll need to have whatever agreement we come to written up ASAP. We can’t afford to wait on this.”

“I understand, just give me a moment.” The line clicked several times before Mr. Dray came back on the line. “I’m recording this call, for future reference. Once you make the introductions, let me talk to...who is it we’re going to be speaking with exactly?”

“A Dr. Derek Messange from Zootopia University.” Dave replied, and checked the screen on his phone. The icon indicated that Donny was waiting for them to join.

“Let me speak with Dr. Messange briefly, and then I’ll just be a fly on the wall while you work out the arrangements.” The cheetah added.

Dave nodded, and then forwarded the call to his own phone, and then passed the device back to Jim. He tapped the icon to merge the calls, and also turned on the speaker so that he and Jim would be able to take part.

He could hear another deep voice on the line, and obviously Dr. Messange and Donny had been conversing while they waited. “...careful this time. Their Skip’s too good to miss a call like that, and we need to focus on getting the guard rocks in place before make a move on the button.”

Dave had no idea what the conversation was regarding, but that was neither here nor there. “Hello, Dr. Messange?” He asked, hoping that he had correctly managed to send all the calls to the right place.

“Oh, hello! And yes this is Dr. Messange speaking. You would be Dr. Hawthorne?” He didn't know Dr. Messange personally, but it was obvious from the voice that he was one of the larger species...which made sense if he and Donny were involved in sports together.

 _“Is curling a sport? I never pictured Donny on ice before.”_ He thought to himself before continuing. “That’s correct, I’m also with Drs. Cerval and Wilson from the Honeywell Centre, and Mr. Dray who’s part of the legal representation for the Centre.”

Daniel took that as an invitation to speak. “Good morning Dr. Messange. Before we go about the reason for this call, I need to let you know that it is being recorded, and that the contents will be kept utterly confidential without the consent of both parties. Provided that you all can come to an agreement, I’ll have the paperwork sent out later today.”

“Paperwork? Donny what’s going on?” Confusion was evident in Dr. Messange’s voice, and Dave hurried to explain.

“Dr. Messange, we have a situation regarding a patient, and we need to get our paws on a Sequel system as soon as possible. Donny mentioned that you were expecting one soon, correct?” He asked.

There was a pause before Derek replied. “Yes, we’re expecting it to be shipped either today or tomorrow. We’re just waiting for confirmation from PackBio on the availability of the installation team.”

Dave smiled at the revelation. “So it hasn’t shipped yet? Excellent!” There was real excitement in his voice as he continued. “I’ll put this bluntly, we need that machine, and we’re willing to offer you twice the list price, plus we’ll cover the service contracts once you do get a system set up for yourself for a 5 year period.”

 _“Please don’t let me have overstepped my authority.”_ He silently pleaded internally, but neither Doug, nor Mr. Dray said a word against the offer.

“Thh...that machine costs one point three million dollars! It took us a year to get the funding together, and you’re willing to hand over almost 3 million just like that?” His voice was incredulous, and Dave couldn’t blame him.

The low rumble of Donny’s laughter came over the line. “Derek, I’ve told you that funding is never an issue for me.”

“I thought you were joking. Damn, I can’t really say no to this, can I?” There was a pause as he took a moment to consider things. “How do we proceed from here?”

Daniel took over the conversation at that point. “I’ll have the agreement written up by noon, once it’s signed, we’ll contact the office of research at ZU and set up an unrestricted research grant for your group. The funds should be in place within 5 business days, but your institution might delay their availability for a bit. Will that be acceptable?”

There was silence for a few seconds. “Five days?” There was another pause. “You know every fiber of my being is telling me that this is impossible. Grants normally take months to get set-up, but you’ll really do this?”

Doug’s voice was the one to reply. “Dr. Messange, we’re a privately funded institution, and when things need to be done, you’re looking at the entirety of the bureaucratic process required. We need that sequencer, and we’re not going to waste time.”

Once again Dr. Messange’s low rumble of a laugh could be heard. “OK. I guess I’ll just need to accept that.” He stopped speaking for a moment. “...I don’t suppose you’re hiring?”

Dave could almost hear Doug’s ears perk up in response. “If that’s a genuine question, please forward me your CV directly and we’ll be in touch.” The rabbit stated, only slightly managing to hide the delight in his voice.

 _“If it’s the money that’s attracting him, even our rate won’t be enough to keep him here...”_ Dave thought glumly, but any opportunity to increase the research staff was something that they needed to pounce on.

* * *

 

The group had quickly worked out the remaining details, and after a brief conversation with a very confused sales rep, they were assured that the sequencer would be installed tomorrow.

Although he was excited at the prospect of a new toy in the lab, as well as the answers that it could provide, he had delayed the start of his rounds long enough. Dave walked into the Centre and after changing into a fresh set of scrubs and donning his lab coat, he made his way to the nurse’s station to get a read on how many patients he needed to see this morning.

Walking up to the desk he was surprised to see an unfamiliar rabbit sitting behind the desk. Her ear twitched at his approach, and she looked up to greet him. “Hi! You must be Dr. Hawthorne.” The doe stood up and offered her paw in greeting. It was only then that Dave noticed the monogram on her lab coat read ‘Dr. Wilson’, and the association was instantly made.

He took up her offered paw in his own and smiled warmly. “And you would be Melissa I presume. I had heard through the grapevine that you’ll be joining us, but I’m a bit surprised to see you here so soon. Did you finish off your residency already?”

Melissa laughed and waved her paw dismissively. “I wish! No I’ve still got 6 weeks of practical to get through.” She shook her head and motioned to the stacks of paper in front of her. “I’m just getting a head start on the HR stuff. I want to get started as soon as I can, but I haven’t done any work in a BSL 3 lab, so there’s a bunch of training and security stuff to deal with.”

Dave gave a chuckle at the comment. “Quite commendable, but there’s no need to rush that part. Unless I’ve been misinformed, you have more of a clinical focus in mind, so the research side of things can wait until you get your feet wet at least.”

The doe shook her head. “I don’t like leaving things that can be done now for later.” She shrugged and sat back down at the desk, but laughed as she once again took up her pen. “I get that from dad...I mean Dr. Wilson.” She hummed to herself briefly. “I guess that’s going to be a little awkward to deal with, but I’ll figure it out.”

Dave cocked his head inquisitively. “I’m actually surprised that Doug finally gave in on having you start here. He was pretty... _opinionated_ about it just three days ago.”

Her ears drooped and a frown formed on her muzzle. “Look. We had a fight about it, but I won, and I’m going to practice here. It’s my choice, and I know what I’m getting into.” She looked up at Dave, and he could see in her eyes that she did. “I’ve seen what this place, what the work here has done to him over the years, and I know that he was trying to protect me, but this is what I want to do.” She looked away, and there was uncertainty written all over her face. “Maybe I can’t handle it. Maybe I will break.” Looking back up, Dave could see that there was steel in her eyes.  You know what? I want to find out either way, and when I do make it, this is a place where I can make a real difference.”

Dave nodded in understanding and a smile formed on his muzzle. Those were the reasons that brought him here as well, and although the road was hard, he could see that she wanted to walk it for the right reasons. “It will be a pleasure to have you on board Melissa, and please call me Dave. We’re a small enough group that we only use the titles when dealing with patients.”

Any reply that would have been forthcoming was cut off by a commotion from the main lobby. “We need a stretcher out her NOW!” Jim’s voice called out, and Dave wasted no time bolting for the spare gurney that they kept for patient transfer. He nearly ran into Doug Mills, as the leopard dashed out of a supply room, obviously hearing the command.

Both mammals grabbed the bed and sprinted out to the lobby. Kneeling on the floor, Jim and Cat were working to assess the condition of an obviously pregnant ferret who was lying on the ground clutching her rounded abdomen in what Dave already knew was a strong contraction. Kneeling next to her was her probable mate, a middle aged stoat, who was staring with a look of confusion on his face. All he could do was reach out and take her paw in his own.

“What do you have, Cat?” Dave asked as he drew up beside the group. He noticed that Cat was still in her street clothes, and hadn’t even had a chance to change before their first patient burst through the door. The jaguar was taking the ferret’s vitals, and looked up as he approached.

“According to her husband, the contractions are occurring every 2 and a half to 3 minutes. Her pulse is rapid but steady. We need to get her into an exam room to really have a better handle on this, but right now it looks like a normal active labor.” Catherine said, motioning for Dave to help her lift the patient onto the gurney. Jim had made his way over the reception desk and was looking at Natalie’s computer, the older gnu stepping back to get out of the way of the physician.

 _“He’s probably looking up her information.”_ Dave thought as he and Cat carefully placed the female onto the gurney. Looking at the two mustelids, he forced a warm smile onto his face as Catherine began the more formal introductions.

“Well you two know how to make an entrance.” She said with a warm smile on her muzzle. “Ms. and Ms. Paddington, I’m Dr. Willows, and these are Dr. Hawthorne, nurse Mills and Dr. Cerval.” Motioning with her paws as she introduced the mammals on paw.

 _“Paddington? Why is that so familiar?”_ He thought, but managed to keep a practiced smile on his face as he nodded his head in greeting. Seeing some motion in the corner of his eye, he looked over to Jim, who was waving him over with a hoof. There was no smile on his face however, and the implications caused a knot to form in Dave’s stomach. Looking back at Catherine, the two shared a knowing glance.

“Mr. Mills, would you see Ms. Paddington to Delivery Room 1 if you please.” Catherine said, keeping her worry out of her voice. “Mr. Paddington you can head in as well. Mr. Mills will get you gowned up once we have your wife settled in.”

Doug nodded his head and pushed the gurney through the double doors, and towards one of the two delivery rooms in the Centre. They were used all too infrequently, but were always ready nonetheless.

Dave and Catherine kept the smiles on their faces until the doors closed, then both mammals turned to face Jim, who was looking intently at the screen in front of him. Dave gave a sigh, as he knew that what it showed could only represent bad news, before walking over to look for himself.

Dave had only taken a step when it finally dawned on him. “Oh shit!” He said out loud. “Was that a Melana Paddington?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

Jim didn’t look up from the screen, but nodded his head sadly.

He had almost forgotten about the Paddingtons. He had done the initial consultation, but had passed it over to Laura once the fetus’ condition was known. “She was supposed to terminate the pregnancy Jim. The fetus’ heart only has 2 chambers. The cranial malformations were bad enough on their own, but with that heart condition, it’s simply not viable.” He looked over to Catherine who was reaching for her phone. “I know that Laura went over this with them.”

Cat shook her head with a small snarl on her muzzle, obviously remembering the couple now. “She did...and it damn well broke her to do it.” She paused in dialing the phone. “She needs to know, but this is going to hit her hard.”

Dave nodded in understanding. Laura had lost one kit to the same cardiac deformity. The tragic irony in being a cardiologist, but being unable to do anything to save your own child had taken a toll on the ferret. Professionally, it had somewhat galvanized her to devote even more energy into the clinical and research aspects of the Centre, but on a personal level it had cost her irreparably.

They all knew that the normal procedure would be for her as the primary physician to oversee the birth...and death of the kit, but this wasn’t something that Dave would allow if he could help it. Looking back to Cat, he sighed heavily. “Call her, but let her know that I’ll handle the delivery. Ms. Clawson isn’t coming in until this afternoon, and from the looks of things, Ms. Paddington won’t keep us waiting too long.” Shaking his head, he continued. “If she insists that she wants to handle it, I’ll step aside, but damn it! This never should have come this far.”

Cat growled softly in reply. “I don’t know what they were thinking, but I do know that Laura told them every detail of what she went through. Jim, did they ever book the D&E?”

Jim was still looking over Ms. Paddington’s chart, and nodded in reply. “Yes, the procedure was booked for just over a month ago, but they cancelled, and didn’t return any of Nat’s calls.” He shrugged his shoulders and motioned to the screen. “It looks like they got cold feet. Hell, maybe they were hoping for a miracle, but they’re not going to get one if these tests were accurate.”

“They were accurate.” Dave said somberly. “Both Laura and I ran them independently. We got a full 3D image of the heart anatomy, and it was clear that both the atria and ventricles were fused. The palate and mandibular cleft we probably could have fixed, but that heart just isn’t going to be able to keep him alive for long.” He felt his lips curl into a snarl and he kicked a nearby waste bin in frustration, earning a disapproving glare from Natalie. “Damn it! Why couldn’t they just have listened?”

“Denial is a powerful drug, Dave.” Jim said, shaking his head. “We gave them the options of bad or worse and they balked at it.”

“We see it damn near every day.” Cat said sadly. “You sure you want to handle this?”

“ _Want_ isn’t really the word I’d use, but yeah, I’ve got it. You have some booked appointments, and all I have on the go are the Rey’s and lab stuff.” He ran a paw over his eyes before continuing. “I’ll check in on the Paddington’s and get an idea of how far along things have progressed. If I have time, I’ll stop by the Rey’s room to see how they’re settling in.”

Quickly looking at his watch, he started back towards the nurse’s station. “Jim, get out of here before it’s too late!” He called over his shoulder as he stepped through the double doors.

Steeling himself he stopped off at the nurse’s station to see that Melissa was intently reading over something on one of the tablets that were used when a physical chart wasn’t available. He forced himself not to laugh, and put on a grave face before he spoke. “That’s confidential information Dr. Wilson!”

The doe jumped at the sound of his voice, and she looked sheepishly up at him. He extended his paw towards her, and motioned for the tablet. “Sorry Dr. Hawthorne. Nurse Mills asked me to load up the patient’s information for you or one of the other physicians when he passed by. I know I shouldn’t have read it, but I saw the attached notes and...well I couldn’t believe it.” She said while handing over the device.

Dave glanced at the screen, and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw Ms. Paddington’s information. Looking back at the rabbit he allowed his face to soften. “For future reference, we do take patient confidentiality very seriously here. You’re not on staff yet, and looking at this without the patient’s consent is a big ethical breach. Being curious is good, but know where to draw the line in the future.”

Melissa nodded and hung her head, making no move to reply. Dave sighed, but then had a thought about what she had said. “As to you not believing that it could happen, this is what it’s like here.” He said motioning with his paws to indicate the entire Centre. “Every day, you’ll come in and have to tell some mammal that they can’t have children, or worse that their child won’t survive for thousands of different reasons. I am not exaggerating when I say that we fail to help 9 out of 10 mammals that come through those doors. Oh sure, we usually manage to help the parents recover, but for the kits? No, our success with those are rare and precious things.”

Melissa looked up as his words hit her, and there was a fire in her gray eyes as she spoke. “I know that! Do you think that I’m oblivious to what this place has done to dad? To Grant? How it eats them from the inside and, if it weren’t for the rest of us keeping them together, it would have hollowed them out years ago.” She suddenly jumped onto the chair, which not only brought her up to Dave’s chest, but she poked a digit into it roughly, punctuating every word she spoke next. “I. Want. To. Help! The patients, dad, Grant, you, everyone here.” She slumped back down before continuing. “I screwed up with the chart, but I want to help.”

Dave nodded his head and came to a decision. “Come with me.” He said simply, then started walking down the hall towards the delivery rooms. “You want to know what it’s like here, well you’re going to see exactly what we are dealing with.” Looking back over his shoulder he continued. “Based on what you read, what’s going to happen in there?”

Her voice lacked the clinical detachment that came with performing this job for years, but she was still succinct. “If we’re lucky, the kit will be stillborn. If we’re not, it’ll only survive for a few minutes outside the mother.”

Dave nodded. “That’s exactly right. Our job is going to be preparing these mammals for what’s going to happen, and then seeing it through to the end. Depending on how this goes the kit may die in their arms or one of ours.” He spun around and faced the rabbit directly, while continuing to walk backwards. “We do not shy away from it. We do not look away when death arrives. That kit will not die alone on a table, and I will be there for as long as he has. That is the price that this place demands of us.”

He knew that he was being unduly harsh on the young physician, but Doug had been right when he said that the Centre ate innocence daily. _“She wants to know if she could handle the job. This is how she can find out...and get the hell out before this place breaks her.”_ He thought to himself.

Melissa nodded in reply. “I...I understand, and I won’t crumble when the time comes. If need be, I’ll be the one to hold him.”

Dave allowed himself a smile at her conviction, but shook his head. “No Dr. Wilson. That is one price I can’t allow you to pay just yet. This is my patient, and my responsibility. You’re here to watch, and to learn. About the job, and hopefully about yourself.” Reaching the doors to the assigned delivery room, he paused. “Don’t force yourself to do this if you really can’t handle it. I’m being a bit cruel here, but sometimes I wish Doug had done something like this with me.” He sighed at the memories that came flooding back to him. The seemingly endless stream of small failures he had held in his paws. “I probably would have still signed on, but it would have made the first few weeks easier.”

Straightening himself, he nodded to the doe. “Let’s take a look and see how things are progressing.”

* * *

 

The two physicians walked in on what would be a precursor to unbridled joy at Zootopia General next door. Doug had been joined by his wife, Sara Mills, and both were getting Ms. Paddington settled into the labor and delivery bed. It was currently set up in the labor configuration, which was very similar to any regular hospital bed. Dave didn’t think it would stay that way for long though, as Ms. Paddington was obviously working through yet another strong contraction.

A look and a nod from Doug told Dave that there was nothing unforeseen that was occurring, and the two physicians moved to the scrub sink and proceeded to thoroughly wash and dry their paws before donning gloves and making their way over to the couple.

“Ms. and Mr. Paddington,” He began when the contraction subsided. “This is Dr. Wilson, a senior resident at Zootopia General. Would mind if she observed the delivery?”

Both mustelids nodded in reply, and Dave could smell the anxiety coming off of them in waves. Unfortunately, he couldn’t afford to be comforting in this instance, and he took a seat to bring him closer to eye level.

“Before we go any further, I need to make sure you understand what the very likely outcome is for this.” He looked to both mammals with a compassion, but also professional resolve. “Based on all the previous tests, the odds are near certain that the kit will not survive for very long, if it’s delivered alive at all. I’m very sorry, but the heart condition is not something that we can fix. I need you to understand this.”

“We understand doctor.” Ms. Paddington replied. “We know what we were told, but we needed to give him a chance.”

Dave nodded. “All right then. I’ll need to do a quick check to see how you’re progressing. Have you given any thought to pain management? The Centre’s _other_ Dr. Wilson will be arriving shortly, and he can administer an epidural or a spinal block.” He held back a small chuckle at the confusion that having two Dr. Wilson’s on staff would cause. “That will numb you from the mid abdomen down. You’ll still feel pressure, but very little pain.”

The ferret shook her head. “Not, I want to do this as naturally as I...OH SPIRITS!” She cried out as another contraction took hold. Dave glanced at Doug, who checked his watch and held up 2 digits.

 

 _“So 2 minutes between contractions.”_ He considered as he glanced as his watch to time the contraction, while reaching out with his other to grip her shaking paw. It began to subside after 35 second, and he quickly took advantage of the lull to move down to the foot of the table.

“Just let me know if you change your mind on that. We can also go for an IV painkiller. It will take the edge off of the pain, but it’s nowhere near as effective as the epidural.” Seeing his patient nod her head in understanding, he continued. “I’m going to take a look, so just relax, and if you feel any sharp pain, let me know Ms. Paddington.”

He went about moving his paws over her abdomen, feeling the uterus and the fetus inside. Everything appeared to be progressing normally, and the fetus was well down in the main body of the uterus, with no signs of a breach.

He lifted the surgical drape, and seeing nothing amiss, he gently inserted two digits into the ferret’s vagina. Feeling the cervix with the tips of his digits, he made a mental measurement of its dilation _“That’s right around 2 centimeters, almost fully dilated. Given her history this is going to be a quick one.”_

This wasn’t Ms. Paddington’s first pregnancy; she had successfully delivered three other kits previously. It was only in this latest pregnancy that the genetic dice had come up against the couple. Given the previous pregnancies, Dave doubted that she would be longer than an hour.

Removing his paw, he began to strip off his gloves. He forced a smile onto his muzzle as he looked up to address his patient. “Everything looks fine for now Ms. Paddington, and we’re progressing normally. If you can help it, remember not to push just yet. I know you want to, but we’re still a bit early, so just try to hold off.” He motioned with a paw towards Melissa and himself. “Dr. Wilson and I are going to get changed and then we’ll be back.”

The couple nodded, and Ms. Paddington spoke up. “Just, please hurry back...and could you...AHHH! C...Could you call me Mel, PleeeeeOHFUCK!” Another contraction gripped the ferret, and Dave quickly moved his paws over the abdomen, ensuring that there was nothing untoward with them.

Nodding his head, he motioned for Melissa to follow him. Before leaving he turned to face the Mill’s. “Doug, Sara, if you have the chance, could you please get the fetal ECG set-up. I’d like to get a look at the QRS complex as soon as I can, and if Dr. Pawson makes it in, she’ll definitely want to see it.”

“I’ll handle it Dr. Hawthorne.” Sara answered, looking over to Doug who was holding onto Mel’s other paw along with her husband.

Dave tossed the used gloves in the bin by the door and then exited the delivery room, turning towards the staff locker rooms. “Ok, let’s get into the fresh scrubs and get back in there. This one won’t take long if her previous pregnancies are any indication.” Looking at his watch he gave a small bark of laughter. “Unless your dad speeds things up, he’ll probably miss this one.”

From behind him he could hear the clearing of a male throat, and he stopped in his tracks. Cringing both mentally and physically, he turned around, and saw not one, but two unhappy mammals in the hallway. Both Doug and Laura we alternating their looks between Melissa and himself, and Dave knew that some explaining was in order.

Before he could answer however, Laura spoke up. “Doug, before you tear a strip off his hide, can I get a word in?” She asked the older rabbit by her side.

Doug nodded wordlessly, and the sable colored ferret walked over to stand in front of Dave. She motioned for him to kneel down so that they were close to the same level. As soon as he did so, the stern look on her face crumbled into one of profound loss, and she wrapped him in an embrace.

Dave was too shocked to respond, fully expecting to have to face the full fury of the diminutive cardiologist. Instead, all he could hear from her was a quiet “Thank you.” before he wrapped his own arms around her.

For all of her fierce demeanor, Laura, like all the mammals at the Centre had a limit as to the tragedy that she could deal with. Having a patient go through the same anguish that she had...when she had tried to warn them\, was apparently the point where here professional pride was willing to take a back seat to her mental health.

The two held each other for a short time, and then Dave felt her loosen her hold, and he did likewise. The ferret sniffed slightly, and rubbed a paw over her eyes, but her professional attitude quickly took hold, just as Dave’s on mask did for him.

“You didn’t need to do it, but thank you.” Her face darkened, as her normal fiery demeanor returned. “What the fuck were those two thinking? After all I shared with them…” She paused and threw her arms out wide in frustration “...they ignored all of it?

“I think Jim said it best this morning Laura, ‘Denial is a powerful drug’.” Dave replied sadly.

The ferret nodded her head. “I’ll need to be in the room to verify the diagnosis.” She said, and held up her paw when Dave made to interject. “I know that you can make the call, but this is something that I need to be sure of.” Her practiced smirk returned to her muzzle as she looked the white wolf up and down. “I was willing to admit you’re better than me at the amnio, but for this? Oh no, Dr. Hawthorne. This is my court, and you will play ball by my rules.”

Dave gave a small laugh, but then his face took on a more somber note. “Understood Laura...but when the time comes, I’ll be the one to handle it if need be.”

There was both relief and sadness in Laura’s eyes as she considered his words, but then her head cocked to the side in confusion. “I was afraid that you were going to foist that off on Melissa...if I’m right about that being her, which judging from the quiet but heated discussion going on behind us, I’m pretty sure I am.”

Dave looked shocked at the comment. “I’m not a monster Laura, and we need her. Spirits know, we need her.” He sighed and stood up. “To her credit, she offered, but I said that it wasn’t a price I was willing to let her pay just yet.” He looked down at Laura. “The rest of us have had to pay it dozens, no hundreds of times over, but if I can hold off that day, I’m going to.” Shaking his head he looked back at the pair of rabbits, who had apparently finished their argument and were hugging each other fiercely. “I just want her to know what she’s getting into, and for her to have a real chance to determine if she can handle it.”

The pair broke apart, and the two Wilson’s made their way over to Dave and Laura. Doug spoke up as he walked past, sniffling slightly as he did. “Shall we be about it Doctors?” Motioning with a paw, he directed Melissa to the female locker rooms. “Dr. Wilson, Dr. Pawson will show you where the scrubs are. Dr. Hawthorne, if you would follow me.”

Dave followed Doug into the locker room and immediately made for the orderly supply closet containing the various materials that were needed for the day to day use by the staff. Grabbing a set for himself and Doug’s smaller form he made his way back and saw Doug supporting himself with one paw against the locker. The buck’s head was bowed, and Dave could see that he was taking several hitching breaths. He walked up behind him and placed a paw softly on his friend’s shoulder, and the rabbit started slightly.

Drawing a deep breath, Doug turned around, and Dave recognized the expression, for he had seen it on his own face, staring back at him from the mirror more times than he’s like to count. The mixture of anger, frustration and sadness were plain to see, and it stung Dave to know that he had been the cause of at least some of it.

“I’m sorry Doug.” He began. “Melissa said that you two had disagreed about here starting here, but I wanted to her to have the chance to see exactly what we have to deal with here before she jumped in.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have done it behind your back, but we didn’t have a lot of forewarning on this one.”

The buck gave a small laugh at that. “I understand where you were coming from Dave. I’m not going to say that I am not visualizing a number of very creative ways with which I can remove your head right now, but I do understand.” He took another slow breath to steady himself. “I think she can handle it here, but I don’t want her to _have_ to.”

Doug took a seat on the small sized bench and looked up at Dave. “I pulled some strings and had a look at her residency record, and what Grant said about her throwing herself right into the fire was spot on. She has already seen and done things that would have had me running screaming into the night, and forgetting about pursuing a career in medicine.” He shook his head. “The NICU is bad at the best of times, but it doesn’t compare to here normally, but what she went through Dave? I couldn’t say no after I read that.”

For all the seriousness of the words Dave couldn’t help but laugh at the coincidence, and Doug looked up at him with a mixture of surprise...and some anger on his face. Dave waved a paw to forestall any reply. “I’m sorry Doug, but the whole reason why I brought Melissa in on the delivery was because I caught her taking a look at Ms. Paddington’s chart.” He had another laugh at the thought. “I told her how seriously we take confidentiality here, and that spun out into the whole _‘I want to see if you can handle this’_ shtick. Now I know where she get her rebellious nature.” He was just able to finish the sentence before the lunacy of the whole situation settled on him, and he doubled over in laughter.

Doug gave a short snort of laughter, which also quickly degenerated into something far more jovial...and cathartic for the two.

Once they managed to regain control, the two physicians quickly dressed and made their way back to the delivery room. Their duty was clear, and it was something that both mammals knew what would be needed of them.

* * *

 

Upon arriving, the four physicians had quickly scrubbed in and donned gloves and masks as they quickly made their way to their various stations around the room. Doug was the first to introduce himself, after arriving at the head of the table.

“Hello Mel, I’m Dr. Wilson _Senior."_ He said with a slight twinkle of amusement in his eye at the use of the novel suffix. “Dr. Hawthorne informed me that you would like this to be as natural as possible. Is that still the case?” He asked as he looked over the patient’s vitals. Even though she was working through the latest contraction, everything was within the normal range, so he showed no concern.

Collapsing back onto the table, her breathing was quick, but controlled. “Maybe a little something to take the edge off?” She looked over to her husband. “I might have bitten off more than I can chew.”

Doug gave a small laugh and quickly moved to set up a Demerol drip for the IV. It wasn’t uncommon for mammals to want to have a ‘natural’ delivery, but the reality of the event often did not match their rosy expectations. Doug was well aware of this and was always prepared to step in with a little chemical therapy.

Laura was looking over the fetal ECG, and managed only a curt nod to the couple, along with a simple “Mel, Jacob” in greeting. Although an outsider would have just waved it off as clinical dispassion, all of the Centre’s staff knew that it was far more than that. Laura was furious at the couple, but she would never let it affect her performance. Dave could think of little else in this world that would terrify him more than the thought of really being on Dr. Pawson’s bad side, but these mammals had earned a special kind of enmity with her, and it was only professionalism that was saving their hides from her wrath.

Dave also knew that Laura held her tongue because she knew more than anyone else in the room just how much suffering this couple would be in for during the coming minutes.

Dave took his place at the foot of the table, but looked over to Laura, who met his gaze and shook her head.  She handing over a printout of the fetus’ heart rhythm and Dave glanced at the paper.  He sighed as it confirmed that the worst was going to happen. The fetus was alive, but the mangled ECG told him all he needed to know. The peaks and valleys that represented the electrical signals the body used to regulate the heart’s beating were a disordered mess. Rather than acting in a controlled cascade, the anatomical malformations meant that the whole heart was contracting in a single motion. With only two chambers to work with, it simply wouldn’t be able to keep it alive once it was separated from his mother.

Dave worked to keep his eyes neutral as he handed the printout over to Melissa, who looked at the trace and herself sighed at the implications. A glance to Doug meant that the information had made the rounds of all the physicians, and Doug took the opportunity to divert Ms. Paddington’s attention away from the sudden gloom that had overtaken the medical personnel in the room.

“OK Mel. I have you on a fairly low dose right now, but if you need more just let me know or squeeze my paw.” He said, taking her paw in his own. “This will only take a minute to kick in, so you won’t probably won’t notice a difference in the next contraction, which…” He began before her paw tightened around his own. “Should be happening any moment now.” He said calmly, as he took a damp cloth with his other paw and dabbed the ferret’s forehead.

Dave looked under the draping again, and made the call. “We’re fully dilated. Let’s get this set for delivery.”

The team worked quickly, and the bed was quickly converted it to delivery configuration, with Dave seated between Ms. Paddington’s legs, fully cognizant of the small form that could even now be seen at the cervical opening.

“Mel, you’re doing fine. When the next contraction comes, I want you to push this time.” He said and he stood ready to act if there were any problems. Although it was rare in mustelids, or any carnivore species really, there were times when the vaginal opening would need to be widened to help the kit pass through.

The next contraction came almost as soon as he finished speaking, and Mel groaned under the effort, bending over as she worked to push the tiny form out of her body. The contraction passed, and Dave could see the form pressing against the cervical opening. It was so close a moment that should have been a joyous...but the impending reality  filled Dave with only dread.

As always his thoughts went back to the paradoxical nature of this place. Today should have been a celebration of new life, with tears only being born out of happyness. Here however, they were destined to mourn another death, and comfort tears of unimaginable anguish.

These thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind as he waited for the next contraction. “That’s it Mel. Just a little more. You’re doing great.” He said.

When the next contraction came, he saw the head fully clear the cervix, and he cried out in an instinctive “I can see the head!” It had been drilled into him so often during his residency that you always announced those key points that signified that the delivery was going according to plan...and Dave had to admit that there was no small piece of him that longed to be able to share those words without knowing that all those plans would soon turn to ash.

He reached a paw carefully inside to cup the small head, while his other paw pressed on Mel’s abdomen to carefully rotate the body to make its passage easier. In the bright glare of the overhead surgical lamps, he could already make out some of the details of the face even through the birth sac. The muzzle was almost entirely absent, and from the dark shadows present inside, he could see that the mandibular and palatal cleft were just as pronounced as the ultrasounds had indicated a month ago.

There would be nothing that could be done about it now though, as Mel was once again gripped by another contraction. “That’s it Mel! Just give it one big push!” Dave said, his command echoed by Jacob, who was now alternating his gaze between the face of his wife, and Dave. Looking for some sign that they had been right, that everything would work out.

Dave’s paws moved in synchrony as the small form slid free, and he cupped the birth sac in his left paw while reaching over with his right towards Sara. “Forceps!” Was all he said, and the instrument was placed in his waiting paw. He moved back to the kit and gently grasped the birth caul just below the kit’s neck. Pulling back, the membrane ruptured, and the amniotic fluid that had shielded the kit for the past three months dripped onto the floor.

He worked quickly to remove the caul from the kits head, and from his first glance, the ruined face struck a hole through his heart. Where the muzzle should have been was a continual vertical gash, extending from the top of the neck right up through the nasal cavity and ending in the sinuses. The deformity had caused even the eyes to be malformed, and even though the lids were closed, he could tell that they were too malformed to have ever seen any light at all. It was far down the list of conditions that had already sealed this kit’s fte, but it still hurt to see the small form in such a shape.

He began to rub the kits chest and back, working the remainders of the caul free, while mimicking the motions of a mother’s tongue, as had been done in millennia past. Part of him hoped that the first breath would never come, but all too soon, the small form moved and a coughing, gurgling squeak that could be heard throughout the room.

“Is that it? Is that him?” Jacob said, standing up on his stool quicker than Dave could move the shield his view of the kit’s face. He had hoped to be able to clean up the infant before having at least a few moments to prepare them, but that wasn’t to be.

The father took one look at the small form in Dave’s paws, and everyone could see the color drain from the visible portions of skin on his face and ears. “Spirits!” He choked out, stepping backwards, falling from the stool and landing on all fours on the floor. The fall didn’t even faze him and he looked up numbly. “What is that? What…” He cried out, but was cut off as he reached up a tore off his muzzle mask and wretched onto the delivery room floor.

Both Dougs moved to help the other mammal, and Dave moved quickly to clamp off and cut the umbilical cord, knowing that things were going to go from bad to worse. He had just completed the cut when Ms. Paddington’s voice finally cut through the turmoil. “Jacob! Jacob what’s wrong?” She started moving and, faster than Dave could believe she was sitting up, and had pushed down the surgical drape, giving her a full view of the small form...of her son in Dave’s paw.

A single paw raised to her muzzle, and she shook her head in disbelief. “No! No, that can’t be him. Why would they do this to us? How could…” Any other words were lost as a mournful cry that emerged helplessly from her muzzle, and she collapsed back onto the bed, both paws covering her face as she cried out; the final embers of her hope suffocated violently in front of her.

The mewling cries from the infant continued, and Dave sighed sadly. He looked over at Laura, and saw that her face could have been carved in stone for all the emotion it showed. Something in her eyes, however, told him that she was far from emotionless at this stage. Reaching over he grabbed a small blue fleece blanket and made to swaddle the infant, to provide him at least some minimal comfort during what were to be his first, and last miserable moments of existence.

Laura’s head whipped towards him, and Dave could see that, regardless of her personal feelings, she would see this through. He walked over to the ferret, and held out the kit. She took him with practiced paws, and cradled him in her arm while her free paw grabbed her stethoscope from atop the ECG. Placing the ends in her ears, she sighed and placed the diaphragm on the kit’s chest. It was a struggle to make out the particulars of the heartbeat with all the commotion in the room and the crying of the infant in her paws, but it only took her a few moments to confirm what she already knew.

She shook her head and handed the kit over to Dave, before doing something that was utterly unexpected. She removed her stethoscope, carefully placing it back on the ECG, took off her muzzle mask, and went to stand beside the crying form of Melana, who had turned on her side, facing away from the mewling infant.

Laura reached out a paw and placed it on the shoulder of the other ferret, and then her face crumbled as she openly wept; joining the parents in their grief. She was truly the only mammal in the room who came anywhere close to knowing exactly what the two were going through, and for all the anger that she felt at them ignoring her experience, she couldn’t let them suffer through it alone.

As Dave looked over the horrible scene, he loosely wrapped the infant in the blanket, taking the opportunity to remove his gloves and mask as well. For whatever time this little one had left, he would know the touch of fur and flesh. He was having difficulty maintaining his own mask, and he could feel it cracking as his own anguish fought to be expressed.

Seeing the parents sorrow was one thing; seeing Laura’s anguish was something else entirely. Part of him wished that either of the parents would look over and reach out to hold their kit for the first and only time. It wasn’t to be however. Neither parent made a move to acknowledge the kit that they had defied all reason and recommendation to bring to term, and he knew that a change of heart would not be forthcoming.

Looking over to Doug, Dave made a motion with his head indicating that he would head into the adjacent room...until the kit’s time came.

Doug nodded, and looked over to Melissa. Dave also glanced over, and was pleased to see that the young physician had not looked away from the tragedy. Both he and Doug could see the emotion that was warring under her professional demeanor, but she never once looked away from the tableaux of the grieving patients, and the pained resolve etched onto the faces of the staff in front of her as they struggled to provide some comfort to the couple. This was a hard lesson to learn, but she stood firm where so many had crumbled over the years.

Dave acknowledged to himself that she had what it took to make it at the Centre.  He simultaneously prayed that this had not dissuaded her desire to be here, and that it had provided the motivation to escape it while she still could.

Dave moved to head to the adjoining room, rocking the still crying kit in his arms. Just as he reached the door, another surprise was to be had as the senior Dr. Wilson’s voice spoke out. “Dr. Wilson, would you mind assisting me with Ms. Paddington.”

Dave’s eyebrows raised slightly, before the reality of the situation came crashing down on him again.

Pushing through the door, he entered into the attached prep room. As he did so, he gently folded back one of the kit’s ears. The blue tinge to the skin inside told him that it wouldn’t be long. The kit’s small heart simply couldn’t keep up with the needs of the body it was responsible for. He was powerless to do anything but provide what little comfort he could.

So he stood there, holding the kit to his chest in a single one of his paws, letting him hear his own heartbeat as he rocked him back and forth. As the minutes dragged on, he began humming a wordless tune. It was something from a long forgotten memory, dredged up by this simple act.

Even though the logical part of his mind knew that it would only be a short while, the minutes were an eternity. Throughout it all, he never stopped, and for whatever time this kit had, he would at least know kindness , if only from a stranger.

It truly was an eternity before the kit’s cries began to quiet...and then eventually stop. Dave continued to rock and hold the now still form for another minute before finally stopping. He had forgotten his stethoscope in the delivery room, so he raised the small form to his ear.

For this task, it would be enough, and he stood there for another minute listening intently, with silence as his only companion. Sighing sadly, he took the corner of the blanket and covered the kit’s face. Another failure for the Centre. Another failure for him.

There was no one else in the room, and the words spoken were for ears that could no longer hear, but he said them anyways.

“I’m so sorry.”

* * *

The situation in the delivery room had only improved slightly when he had returned, carrying the now shrouded form. Ms. Paddington was now lying on the bed, once again allowing Melissa to assist Doug in the final portions of the delivery.

Many mammals didn’t realize just how messy a birth could be...or that the delivery of the kit was not in fact the end of the procedure.

That it should have been a happy moment was one of the soft skills doctor learned in med school, but that lesson was almost never applicable here. Even when he had entered, Ms. Paddington had turned her head away from Dave; away from the small form in his paws. Her husband hadn’t even looked up, and had just stared as his partner’s face, tears still streaming from both their eyes.

Dave had looked towards Laura, who stood at the head of the bed, and tried to provide some small comfort to the couple. The wetness that had surrounded her eyes and cheeks gave testimony to the anguish that she had felt, but her face had softened  from the expression of unimaginable grief that it had previously held. A brief shake of her head and a motion downwards had been all that was required for Dave to understand the situation.

The parents wanted nothing to do with their dead, nameless son.

* * *

Finding himself, carrying yet another container that seem to weigh far more than it should, Dave made his way down to the lab to perform yet another grim harvest.

The lab itself was a flurry of activity when he entered through the airlock, reclaiming the container from the disinfectant bath as he went. He hadn’t had time to check in the Rey’s yet, but these samples needed to be processed.

 _“Oh how quickly they stop being mammals.”_ The thought came unbidden from his subconscious. A scant 20 minutes ago the he had cradled the living kit through his final cry and then his final breath.  In such a short time, his mind had already thrown up his defenses, and striped this kit of all _his_ individuality and rendering _it_ down into simple tissue to be processed. It seemed that the decontamination procedure to enter this room was even capable of sterilizing one's own soul, should such a thing have existed.

The realization of it happening didn’t stop him from allowing those emotional perception barriers to form. They were there for good reason, and at times, they were the only thing that enabled him to continue on. _“One of only two things that have kept me sane,”_ he corrected himself internally. Even with the requisite shower, his sharp canine nose could still make out the faint scent of the other anchor that kept him grounded, and he allowed the small part of him that needed it to draw comfort from it.

Placing the container on his bench, he noticed Donny hunched over one of the workstation terminals, his hooves pecking their way over the oversized keyboard. Knowing that he had a few minutes to spare before needing to collect the samples, he started over towards the bison.

 _“I need a few minutes to finish collecting myself anyways.”_ He thought as he made his way over and tapped the bison’s shoulder in greeting.

Donny looked up from his keyboard. _“He never did get the hang of touch typing.”_ Dave mused internally. Then again, he was fortunate in having been introduced to the world of computers from a young age.

“Oh, good morning Dave.” Donny said warmly. “I’m surprised it took you so long to make it down this morning. With all the craziness from the last two days, I would have thought you’d be chomping at the bit to look at the data.”

Dave took a moment before responding, and Donny recognized the expression. “We had an... _incident_ up in the clinic.” Dave said, pointing to the opaque container sitting on his bench. “And would I really have been able to help out with Mr. Rey’s sequence anyways? From what Jim described it’s even more of a jigsaw puzzle then we even guessed.”

Donny first sighed at the sight of yet another loss, but had to chuckle at the Wolf’s comment. Shaking his head he looked back to Dave. “No Dave, this one is over your head...and even over mine really.” The bison shook his head at the admission. “I’ve been sending code back and forth with Melanie at ZU all morning. Between the two of us, we’re pretty sure that it’s not his genome’s intricacies that are the problem. It really is just the depth, and the repeats. His chromosomes tetrads are so divergent that I’m honestly not even sure if any of the standard algorithm sets are going to be able to crunch the data streams.”

Giving his head a shake, Dave rubbed his chin in thought. “Based on the karyotyping so far, I think these chromosomes are even more different than they appear, and once we can get some additional depth...and break in our new toy of course.” Both mammals smiled under their muzzle masks at the prospect of having the brand new Sequel system up and running tomorrow. “We’re probably looking at big translocations.” Looking back at Donny, he glanced over at the screen to see multiple terminal windows, each streaking blurring lines of code as nearly a petaflop of server processing power was wholly consumed by  the various algorithms attempting to parse meaning out of  Tommy’s seemingly impossible DNA. “Any idea when you’ll have the new assembly together? We need to start triaging the possible genetic conditions so we can have a short list for when the fetus’ single cell results come in...tonight?” He asked with no little hope in his voice.

Donny laughed and nodded his head, clicking his hooves over the keyboard to bring up the GUI representation of the BGSeq’s progress. “It’s got 10 hours to go Dave, and I had better have this assembly pipeline ready to go by then. We should meet with the lab crew before our normal shifts start tomorrow. I want everyone who can to be looking at that sequence data to be doing just that.”

Dave nodded in agreement. “If we can even get a preliminary assembly we can screen for known genetic defects. That will make things easier…” He paused briefly and glanced over to where Beth, Genevieve, and Abby were working to map Mr. Rey’s chromosomes onto their wolf counterparts. “...and you know that Beth and Genevieve are going to hate us for making her do this. Their passion is the molecular work, not the bioinformatics stuff.”

Donny gave a rumbling laugh. “I’ll deal with the two of them. For this, they’ll grumble but give it 100 percent regardless.” The bison looked thoughtful for a moment and then motioned with a hoof back towards the tissue culture room. “I know he’s not your favorite mammal, but Jason’s been in there almost non-stop since that first meeting. He came out earlier this morning and said that the cultures were working better than expected. He should have enough for a real _de novo_ assembly by mid-afternoon tomorrow.”

Dave’s eyebrows raised in surprise. Getting cell cultures started was a delicate thing. To have them established and growing in 24hr was almost unheard of. He knew that Jason was pushing the cell division to the limit, but he had to give credit where it was due. The deer would have had to monitor them around the clock to achieve such a growth rate, or else the cells would have either died, or delved into chaos.

 _“Having a plate full of pre-cancerous cells could be a handy thing...but not in this instance.”_ He mused internally. If left alone in a room with the deer, Dave still figured it was even money whether or not the cervid would leave needing a feeding tube, but the odds had just been nudged ever so slightly in the direction of him getting to keep _most_ of his teeth.

Looking over to the clock, he motioned with his paw back towards his bench. “All right Donny, keep me posted if anything happens. I need to get these samples prepped, and then I need to head back up. I have one more...procedure for the day, and then I need to check in on the Rey’s. The issue from earlier kept me from seeing them, and Tess will have my hide if I don’t give her a progress report on her patients today.”

Donny dismissed him with a wave of his hoof, and returned his focus to the screen in front of him. Dave made his way back to his bench, and placed a fresh scalpel blade onto the standard handle. Opening up the container, a small portion of his mind cried out at the sight, but the diversion had allowed him to compartmentalize that part of himself away. Once again he removed the small form, no longer willfully seeing it as it once was, and after placing it on the dissecting scope, he began his grisly work yet again...that small part of him weeping in the darkness behind his walls.

* * *

 

In this instance, the lab was less a refuge than a duty, but it also provided a kind of mental respite from what was yet to come. He could let his paws move on autopilot, and when the final sample was collected, a brief look at the clock told him that there was just enough time for lunch before Isara’s arrival.

Dave had to chuckle at the absurdity of the thought. _“You know you’ve completely dissociated yourself when you can be on the brink of tears one minute, and then contemplating what to eat the next.”_ It was the truth however, and the growl that came from his stomach told him that it was time to pack things up for now.

He knew that it was all part of his method for coping, and as he placed the container into the fridge to await either cremation or transport to a mortician, he was both thankful and fearful of what such a disconnect meant. _“That however is a moral quandary for another time.”_ Dave thought as he began to exit the lab, ignoring the fact that ‘another time’ had yet to arrive for any of the previous times he’d made that promise to himself.

Passing by Genevieve, Beth and Abby he stopped and looked at the screen that the three females were clustered around. As expected it was a side by side comparison of Mr. Rey’s karyotype with that of both a standard _Vulpes vulpes_ , and _Canis lupus_ ...or another _Canis_ species, he couldn’t quite be certain just based on the image.

“Found anything interesting?” He asked jovially, and all three heads swiveled in synchrony towards him. If it were possible, he would have incinerated on the spot from the gaze of the six bloodshot eyes staring up at him. Taking a step backwards and raising both paws in surrender he backpedaled. “Sorry, I was just curious!”

Genevieve sighed and rubbed her eyes, a move that was quickly mimicked by the mouse and wolf as well. “Sorry Dave, we’ve been at this for hours now, and we’re making progress, but Mr. Rey’s genome is…” She paused searching for the right word.

“A jigsaw puzzle?” Beth chimed in.

“A jigsaw puzzle after you tossed it into a wood chipper...maybe.” Abby added, looking back at the screen. “Aha! Got you, you little fucker.” She said triumphantly, blocking one whole arm from one of the _Canis_ chromosomes and dragging it over to line up with one of Tommy’s.

Beth squinted her eyes, but shook her head in confusion. “I’m not seeing it Abby.” The mouse said.

Abby motioned towards the screen. “Take the portion above the centromere and invert the whole damn thing! It matches up with Mr. Rey’s chromosome vary closely. That inversion was documented in Vulpes chromosome 6 previously, but it looks like in his case, this portion of the chromosome arm was translocated to chromosome 9, but only for one set of them.” She pumped her fist in triumph. “That’s two chromosome pairings fully mapped out.”

“Aaaannnd 37 to go Abby.” Genevieve said while making several notes in her lab book.

Abby deflated slightly. “Can’t a girl celebrate just a little? We’ve already mapped out most of the major changes to his chromatin, and we’ll be able to use the cell culture material starting tomorrow to see how the pup’s...I mean _fetus’_ karyotype looks.”

Dave nodded, and once again was forced to concede that Jason may _not_ have been better off dead, but his _somehow_ becoming significantly disabled still seemed like a reasonable compromise. Sighing at fantasies that would have to remain unfulfilled, he waved a paw at the trio. “I’ll leave you to it. I need to get back upstairs, but I should be back down later this afternoon.”

The three females waved dismissive paws at him, and returned their gazes to the screen, but something caught Dave’s eye, and he looked more closely at the three.

“Abby, could you look over here for a second?” He asked. The she-wolf sighed and turned to face him. Dave reached up with one paw, and placed it on her cheek, pulling down the lower eyelid with his thumb, looking at the color of both the eye and the flesh underneath. The flesh was pallid and he saw the slow perfusion of the tissue when it was released.

Noticing that both Genevieve and Beth made it a point to turn away once they realized what he was looking at, he suspected the same would be true of all three of them.

“When was the last time you three had a break?” He asked sternly.

None of the three volunteered an answer, and Dave sighed. “Abby, you’re dehydrated as hell, and I’m going to guess that you two are even worse! Beth, you must have a splitting headache already.” He pointed to the three. “I’m not going to make you leave right now, but finish up what you’re doing and at least get some Pedialyte into you, we’ve got stock to spare. Abby, 1 litre, Genevieve, a quarter liter, Beth, 20cc. No arguing, and I will be checking in this afternoon, or worse, _Laura will_!”

Once again, the looks he received could have melted solid granite, but he held firm. Amidst grumbled assents, he nodded and made his way out of the lab, stopping only briefly to glare at Donny, who laughed before replying.

“I actually take my breaks Dave...it gives the code a chance to compile.”

Dave shook his head, but accepted the excuse. They were all dedicated to their work, but it was possible to take things too far. Hoping that his orders would be followed, he started his way back to the main floor.

* * *

 

By the time he had showered and donned a fresh set of scrubs, it was just past 11:30. Isara wasn’t due to arrive for another 45 minutes, so it gave him a chance to refuel before he had to dive back into the unfortunate realities of his position.

As he made his way to the staff lounge, he was greeted by the strong smell of coffee wafting from the room. Poking his head inside, he saw Laura standing by the sink, using the built in steps to reach the countertop. The ferret was tapping her hind paw as she watched a small French press in front of her.

Her left ear twitched in his direction, and she turned to face him, leaning back against the counter as she did so. “Ah, Dave. You’re timing’s perfect. Would you like a cup?” She asked, as she reached out and pressed the plunger down on the pot.

Dave’s eyes widened slightly as he made his way over to stand beside her. “Sharing some of your personal stash? Are you feeling OK Laura?” He asked, but with more amusement than anything else in his voice.

Laura laughed at the questions as she grabbed two of the smaller mugs and poured out the dark brown liquid. “I’d say you earned a treat.” She said as she passed over the mug. “Thanks again for helping with the Paddingtons’.” She shook her head before taking a long sip from her mug, her body seeming to relax instantly as the coffee hit her tongue.

Dave took his first sip, and his eyebrows raised in admiration. As coffee went, this really was something else...and the Centre didn’t tend to skimp on these things for its staff. Seeing his expression, Laura chuckled knowingly. “Sometimes it’s the simple things that make life worth living. Experiencing a truly great cup of coffee is one of those things, Dave.” She said and took another longer sip, sighing contentedly.

Taking another sip himself, Dave nodded in agreement. “You might just have a convert Laura. Any chance I can get the name of your supplier?” He asked with a smile.

“No chance in Hell Dave.” She said, although there was more amusement than anything else in her voice. “It’s a small batch place, and you drink so much of this stuff, you’d wipe him out and leave none for me!”

Dave gave a sharp bark of a laugh. “Oh come on Laura. I’m not that bad.”

“Oh really?” She set her mug down, and crossed her arms over her chest theatrically. “How many mugs did you down yesterday, hmmmm?”

Dave thought for a moment before replying “Only 8..10 tops.”

Laura laughed and pointed to her mug. “Eight to ten of these, or 8-10 of those?” She said pointing to the large mammal mugs.

Dave felt a slight blush tinge his face as he pointed to the mid-sized mugs. “Mostly those...and two of those.” Motioning to the large mugs.

Laura almost looked wistful for a moment before gazing up at him with envy written on her face. “This is the only time you’ll find me wishing to have your body mass Dave. If I drank that much, I’d be in the ER...if I even made it that far.” Pointing back to the pot. “I’m only _allowed_ to buy enough for 7 pots a week, and only two _small_ mugs per pot. Can you limit yourself to that?”

Dave shrugged, “It becomes a treat, and I use the normal stuff for actual caffeine top-ups.” He said, and drained the last dregs from his mug. Mentally, he figured that he could get one good sized mug out of each pot...and it would be worth it.

Laura looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’ll ask if my guy will add you onto his list, but no promises!”

Dave cocked his head to the side before replying. “OK Laura, are you really feeling all right? You’re close to bubbling right now.” Pausing briefly he added with a laugh “...it’s almost disconcerting.”

Laura had a small laugh at the comment and shrugged and sighed. “What you did today. It really meant something. You didn’t have to do it. In many ways, you shouldn’t have done it.” Her face scrunched up in distaste. “I...I feel like I owe you for it somehow.”

Dave smiled and reached out placed his paw on Laura’s shoulder. “You don’t owe me anything for that Laura, and you never will.” He said, as Laura turned back towards the counter and clutched her mug between her paws.

“Thank you.” Was all she quietly said, before she took another sip.

Sensing that dwelling on this topic wouldn’t help either of them, Dave decided to change the conversation. Opening the fridge and grabbing several of the sandwiches provided by the Centre’s caterer, he set out two plates at one of the tables before speaking again. “So, would you like to hear the latest on the mystery that is the Rey’s?”

The ferret’s ears perked up at the words, and Laura turned to face him, curiosity written clearly in her eyes. Seeing the food laid out for the two of them, she gave a small laugh, and grabbed one of the mid-sized mugs, filling it with, inferior, but still palatable coffee and made her way over to the table, handing over the mug before hopping up on the chair and grabbing a tuna sandwich from the plate.

“So what fundamental truths have been unraveled downstairs?” She said dramatically before taking a bite out of the sandwich.

Dave laughed, and proceeded to down half an egg salad sandwich in a single bite. “I wouldn’t go _quite_ that far Laura, but progress is definitely being made.” He motioned with his mug downwards before taking a sip. “Donny’s still a ways out from an actual assembly, but Abby, Beth and Genevieve seem to be getting a handle on…”

The two colleagues shared their thoughts on the couple upstairs, while discussing the findings to date. Comparing notes and predictions over lunch was a refuge for each of them; refuge from the morning that had been, and the inevitable that was yet to come. It was a temporary thing, but as with the coffee, it was a treat to be savored.

* * *

 

As always, reality reasserted itself in short order, and a buzz from Dave’s pocket told him that it was time to prepare for Isara’s arrival.

“And that is my cue Laura.” He said collecting his plate and mug, placing them on the small pile of dirty dishes from the night shift.

Laura sighed, and looked at her watch frowning. “I should be off as well. I’ve got 4 more consults this afternoon, but I might actually be able to get down to the lab before you and Cat leave. What about you?”

Dave shrugged. “The Clawsons.” He said simply.

“Oh crap, I forgot.” She said wincing slightly. “Sorry about that.”

“Not your fault Laura, but I’ll probably be seeing you in the lab later.” Dave motioned wide with his paws. “After the D&E, I need to check in on the Rey’s, but then I think some time downstairs would be for the best.”

“Here, here!” The ferret added before the two physicians went their separate ways.

Dave stopped off in the locker room, and changed into a fresh set of scrubs before checking to see if the Clawson’s had arrived yet. Seeing that Mina was staffing the desk, Dave smiled when she looked up.

“Good afternoon Mina. How was your day off?” Dave gave a slight chuckle. “You missed out on the excitement.”

The sheep looked at him as if he had grown a second head. “You doctors have a very odd sense of excitement.” Shaking her head she laughed at the thought. “No, I’ll take the situation now that things have calmed down slightly.” Her face showed that she had suddenly remembered something, and checking her notepad, she tapped the page while nodding in confirmation. “Dr. Willows wanted you to know that Mr. Rey needed to head into work this morning. Ms. Rey is still upstairs...and I can see from the chart that you haven’t checked in on your patient yet Dr. Hawthorne.” She added with no small amount of reproach.

Dave laughed and raised his paws in supplication. “I know, and I full intend on seeing them once I’m done with the Clawsons.” He looked over to the board, and was surprised to see that his patients were already admitted. Double checking his watch, he made certain that he wasn’t late, and he heard the quiet chuckle of Nurse Wolner.

“They just arrived no more than 5 minutes ago. Sara took them into Procedure Room 2.” The nurse supplied, not wanting to keep the poor wolf in a state of confusion.

Dave cocked his head at her choice of words. “Sara took _them_?” He asked.

Mina nodded. “Yes, Ms. and Mr. Clawson both discussed it, and both indicated that they wanted Mr. Clawson to be present.”

Dave sighed, and rubbed his eyes. “That’s...that’s not an ideal situation for this. I’ll speak with them.”

Turning from the station, he made his way back towards the procedure rooms. Knocking on the door, he entered, and saw that the Clawsons were already almost prepped for the procedure, or more correctly, Isara was prepped and laying on the operating table, William was sitting on a stool beside his mate, wearing a surgical gown and muzzle mask. Nurse. Mills and Dr. Wilson Sr. were also present, and were already going about the process of prepping the room and the patient.

Dave made his way over to Isara, and pulled up a stool to sit beside her. The fennec fox was speaking with Doug, and both mammals looked up as he approached, and he nodded in greeting.

“Hello Isara. How are you feeling?” He asked, already knowing at least a part of the answer as his nose picked up the acrid scent of fear that subtly permeated the room. It wasn’t overpowering, but was unmistakable.

Isara gave a small bark of laughter before replying. “From the twitch of your nose, I’d say you know very well how I’m feeling Dr. Hawthorne.” She sighed before continuing. “We’re...I’m OK. Now, no offence, but I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to do this, and every bone in my tiny body is screaming at me to run out the doors and not look back...but aside from that,yes, I am _OK_.”

The comment drew chuckles from around the room, Dave had a real smile on his muzzle when he replied. “I should have known that another Canid would pick up on the nose thing. Sorry about that.”

Isara waved a dismissive paw at him. “Eh, it’s not something that we can really control now is it? When it gets embarrassing is when you’re on the train and someone breaks wind and you have to fight not just looking right at them, but also reciting exactly what they had for dinner the previous evening.” She added, and more the one eyebrow raised in the room, followed by the failed attempts to hold off real laughter at the joke.

As a way of defusing the tension, Dave had to admit it worked, and the mood in the room lightened significantly...and he wasn’t going to add that she was only slightly exaggerating. _“That might spoil the joke.”_ He thought to himself, all too aware of how much information he and other keen-nosed species could glean by scent alone. Combined with big city living, the results were usually... _interesting_.

Doug was the first to fully regain control, as he coughed into his mask to hold off another bout of laughter. “To bring things back to why we’re here, Ms. Clawson are you sure you just want to use a local anesthetic? I can make this procedure much more comfortable for you, and even make sure that it goes by without you noticing at all.”

Isara vehemently shook her head. “Thank you Dr. Wilson, but no. I _need_ to remember this.” She said, and there was no hesitation in her voice.

Dave understood in some way, but he needed to be sure that the fox wasn’t doing this for the wrong reasons. “Isara, you don’t need to punish yourself for this. Is this something that you really want?” He asked, with real concern on his voice. He had seen it before when patients faced the same terrible realization that they had, or were going to lose their child. They took it as being their fault, when the reality was that, under all but the rarest of instances, there was nothing that any mammal could do to change events.

Isara looked at Dave, and he could see the sadness in her eyes. “That’s not why I want to remember it, Dr. Hawthorne...and I think you know that.” She said and Dave just nodded sadly in reply. Seeing his expression she sighed. “This is the closest that we’ve come.” She said, as she reached out her paw to her mate, who grabbed it without hesitation. “It’s probably the closest that we’ll ever come. I...we need to remember this.”

Both physicians nodded in understanding. Doug checked over Isara’s vitals, and looked over to Dave. “She’s ready to go. You get scrubbed in, and I’ll administer the local.” Looking down at Isara, he pulled down his mask so she could see the warm smile he had on. “I’ll be right up here with you for the entire procedure. If you start to feel uncomfortable, just let me know, and I’ll fix it right away.” Replacing his mask, the rabbit hopped down from his stool and moved to the foot of the table, while nurse Mills brought over the chloroprocaine solution for the local anesthetic.

Dave saw that Doug and Sara already had things well in paw, and it would take about another 7 or so minutes for the local anesthetic to kick in, so he made his way to the sink and went about vigorously scrubbing his paws and arms. This procedure didn’t call for full surgical sterility, but he liked to play things safe...and his surgical training really wouldn’t let him accept anything less regardless.

By the time he had finished drying his fur, as well as donning gloves, a muzzle mask, and a head mounted light, Doug was back at the head of the table, and Sara had taken up station next to where Dave would be sitting.

He made a minor adjustment to the room’s overhead lighting, and then took his seat. “All right Isara. I’m just going to be poking you a little bit first, and I want you to tell me if you feel any pain, OK?” He asked, accepting the probe that Sara offered.

“Oh, I’ll let you know. Don’t you doubt that.” Isara replied, once again making the room chuckle, regardless of the actual feelings in the air.

Dave moved quickly, and prodded, various portions of Isara genitalia, making sure that the local had fully taken hold. When she made no reply, he handed the probe back to Sara.

“OK Isara, we’re ready to go. If you feel any pain, or you start to feel lightheaded, just let Dr. Wilson or I know right away.” He announced, although his only reply was a small upraised thumb moving into his field of view from behind the surgical draping.

“Could I get the Paderson Weighted please Sara?” He asked, and the bobcat handed over the weighted speculum. He moved quickly to insert the device, which helped to open up the vagina, to give him better access for the procedure. Seeing that the laminaria sticks had done their job, and the fennec’s cervix was at full dilation, he nodded before taking a breath to steady himself and removed the semi-solid gel that the sticks had left behind.

The procedure itself was a simple one, although he always tried to take a slightly more difficult approach when it came to this procedure. Where possible, he tried to perform an intact extraction. He hoped that his reasons for doing so wouldn’t be needed today, but part of him dreaded the near certainty that it would be.

He first inserted a curette into the uterus, and used it to gently detach the placenta from the uterine wall. Once this was done, he used a  pair of long forceps to grasp the fetus, and being the process of its removal. This was the portion where he took the greatest care, using his limited field of view to rotate the fetus into a breech position, and then drawing it towards the cervix.

The procedure room was quiet except for the constant, but encouraging beeps and clicks of the various pieces of equipment, and Dave continued to draw the small form into the light. Still encased in its birth caul, the feet were the first to be drawn out, followed by the hips and torso. Under the guidance of his careful paws, not a single tear in the caul could be seen.

In most cases the head was the most difficult portion to extract intact. The size of the cranium was at the physical limit for safe passage in some species, but he knew that this wouldn’t be the case here. Even without the anencephaly, there was little risk with most Vulpes species. As a result it only took a little manipulation to free the entirety of the still form from Isara’s womb.

Taking the amniotic sac in one paw, he waited for Sara to hold out an emesis basin before he finally ruptured the birth caul, and proceeded to remove it from the now fully visible kit. Under the harsh light of the procedure room, the awful truth of the deformities were laid bare. The meningomyelocele was a large as the ultrasound had predicted, and the cranial deformities were equally hard to view. Only a thin membrane covered the entire top portion of the flattened skull, and Dave could clearly see the shadow of what little brain matter had formed there.

While Dave examined the fetus, Sara took the emesis basin and examined its contents for any residual fetal tissue. It was imperative that they fully remove all the tissue from Isara to avoid a septic infection.

When he was satisfied that the fetus was intact, Dave took the glass sample dish from the instrument tray and gently placed it inside before depositing both into one of the ever-present opaque containers. He then went back to Isara, and completed the removal of the placenta along with the final scraping of the uterine walls to ensure that nothing remained. After double checked for any bleeding of note, he removed the speculum and breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s it Isara, we’re all done. There were no surprises, and everything looks fine.” He said confidently, working to lower the fennec’s legs into a more comfortable position.

Silence greeted him initially, followed by a quiet sniffling. William’s voice was the first to be heard, as he quietly comforted his mate; his voice equally filled with sorrow. “I know sweetheart, I know. I’m...I’m right here.”

Everyone in the room could tell that he was also on the brink of tears, but his words seemed to calm Isara slightly. When she spoke however, it was the words that Dave had dreaded since the procedure was booked.

“Wa….Was it a boy or a g...girl? She asked between hitching breaths.

Williams’s voice was tight when he spoke, as he fought to maintain a facade of strength for his mate. “Are...are you sure you want to know?”

“I have to know, Will. I...I need this.” She said simply.

Dave closed his eyes and took a deep breath before replying. He had known the answer since the ultrasound, but he hadn’t volunteered it, and would have taken it to his grave had they not asked...but now that they had, it was no longer his secret to keep.

He reached out and lowered the surgical draping so that he could see both their faces before replying. As gently as he could he answered. “A boy Isara, William. He was a boy.”

The simple words were too much for William to take, and his control shattered in the form of  low moan that broke free from his muzzle as he finally wept. For Isara, the tears streamed down her cheeks in silence, as she shook her head on the table. They gripped each other’s paw so tightly that it was the only parts of them not shaking.

Isara took a deep breath and looked over to her husband, who leaned over to rest his head against her’s. They stayed that way for a few moments, Doug’s paw reaching out to rest on William’s shoulder.

When they broke apart, Isara looked at Dave. He could see the request in her eyes, and internally he howled as he silently pleaded with her not to ask.

“Can…” She broke off, and closed her eyes as more tears flowed down her cheeks. She took a breath and without opening her eyes, made the request. “Can I see him?”

“Isara, are you sure you want…” His question was cut off, when her eyes opened again. He could see the resolve in them, and knew without a doubt that this was what she wanted.

“Please...David...I need to see him.”

* * *

 

Brought full circle by his memories, Dave stood holding Isara’s kit in his paws. The now visible beige and grey fur had been cleaned of afterbirth, and he reached over for a towel to dry and fluff as much of the coat as possible. When he was done, he hesitated only briefly when reaching for one of the small blankets that were kept in the room. Selecting a blue one, he proceeded to swaddle the small form, using the body of the blanket to hide the spinal deformity, and wrapping the head so that only the small muzzle and face could be seen.

It was the only comfort he could provide, and he knew that Isara and William would need it.

Turning back to face the couple, he caught the eye of Doug and Sara, and motioned with his head towards the door.

Both mammals nodded in understanding and made their way out of the room, Doug making one final check of Isara’s vitals, and indicating that he would look in on her later.

Neither one of the Clawson’s made any motion to reply, as both of their gazes were fixated on the small wrapped bundle in Dave’s paws. Dave fought to keep his own emotions under control as he made his way over, and laid the still form into Isara’s arms.

There was no sound in the room for the longest time. Just silence, as the magnitude of their loss settled onto their shoulders. Isara’s small body began to shake, and as Dave reached out to place a paw on each of their shoulders, a small keening wail broke free from her muzzle.

There were no words that could be said, and nothing that he could do but stand there and hold on to the two would-be parents. His own mask was slipping, but for once, he didn’t fight to regain control.

Isara was rocking back and forth, her husband holding onto her while his own tears fell freely from his face.

When Isara did speak, the words shattered any mental armor Dave had left and he joined the pair in their grief with tears that he so rarely allowed himself to shed. The words, so similar to his own, and so familiar to him, struck to the very center of his being.

In the midst of her grief, Isara spoke words that were intended for ears that had never had a chance to hear, before once again falling victim to an anguish more profound than any other.

“I’m sorry...Mommy’s sorry...Mommy’s so sorry.”

* * *

  **End Notes:  
**

Well that was a difficult scene to write, but I hope that it resonated with all of you. The title of this chapter, Rejection and Loss, is particularly fitting and tragic because both of those scenes are based on the reactions of patients in similar situations. A close family friend was an OBGYN for almost 30 years before retiring, and they still remembered those tragic moments where things went wrong. He saw parents reject infants due to deformities, and had to console more than one mother whose child was either stillborn or died shortly after birth.

Grief is something that varies from person to person, and no one is immune to it. You can’t predict how an individual will react to tragedy, and all you can do is be there for them.

Now it’s time to move away from the tragedy and engage in some **Science Time** musings. Today the topic will be Evolution in Zootopia. Most of this information was posted on the latest Reddit Zootopia Science Discussion thread, and I’m going to just focus on the most “realistic” scenario this time around, that being natural evolution using similar rates to what we have in our world. In future chapters, I’ll bridge off into the possibilities of either an abbreviated timeline, and also the possibility of Zootopia being an engineered society.

First, some background information regarding evolutionary theory.

Quite simply evolution is just change over time. For organisms on this planet, that change takes the fundamental form of mutations in the genome, which results in altered function or expression of genes. There are a bunch of different types of mutations that can occur:

  1. **Single Nucleotide:** During replication, the enzyme (DNA polymerase) makes an error and puts the wrong nucleotide into the genome.
  2. **Insertion:** A portion of DNA is added to the sequence.
  3. **Deletion:** A portion of DNA is removed from the sequence
  4. **Duplication:** A region of DNA ranging from small di and trinucleotides, right up to entire chromosome arms, are duplicated. This can take the form of tandem repeats, where the duplications occur right beside each other, or can occur over different regions.
  5. **Repeat Expansion:** There are regions in the genome that are composed of stretches of repeating nucleotides. Normally these are between 2-4 base pairs long, and they repeat end to end. These are used for DNA fingerprinting, as mutations that increase or decrease the number of repeats are common enough that they can differentiate between individuals, but are conserved enough that familial relationships can be determined.



For each of these mutations, there’s a chance that they’ll occur in a part of the genome where they could change a gene. When they occur in the coding region (the part that encodes for the amino acid sequence of the protein), there are three possibilities.

  1. The mutation changes nothing (silent)
  2. The mutation changes the amino acid that’s incorporated into the sequence at this point (missense)
  3. The change results in a stop codon, prematurely terminating the protein (nonsense)



 In the case of insertions or deletions, there is also the chance for a frameshift mutation. In the coding region, the nucleotides are read in groups of 3, with those sequences corresponding with a particular amino acid. For instance ATG is the codon for methionine (in RNA the T becomes a U). If you have a sequence that reads ATGTGCAAAAGACATTAA it would normally encode for methionine-cysteine-lysine-arginine-histidine-stop. If we insert a single G after the methionine, we end up with ATGGTGCAAAAGACATTAA, and that same sequence now encodes for methionine-valine-threonine-lysine-threonine-leucine…and it would keep going because the stop codon was changed.

Most of the time, a frameshift results in a nonfunctional protein, but it can also provide a source of new variants. Overall most mutations are silent, and have no effect on the genes of an organism. Every now and then, you get a mutation that is deleterious, and if it’s bad enough, the organism won’t be able to outcompete others, resulting that lineage dying out. On the other side, every now and then you end up with something that give the organism an advantage, and over time, this new trait becomes the dominant allele in a population.

It’s important to note that sometimes losing a trait can provide an evolutionary advantage. Take the human example of lactose digestion. In most mammals, the enzyme lactase stops being produced after the mammal is weaned. Thousands of years ago, and probably in the region where modern Turkey resides, a mutation occurred in the lactase gene’s promoter region that caused it to be kept permanently in the on position. This meant that this individual (who we think was male) could consume dairy without any issues…which is a huge advantage and opens up new food sources.

The speed at which a trait becomes “fixed” in a population is directly proportional to the selective pressure that it addresses. Basically, if a change gives a big advantage to an organism, it is much more likely to become dominant in a shorter period than a trait that only has a transitory advantage.

In the case of the lactase mutation, it rapidly became the dominant allele in most of Europe, the Mediterranean, Eurasia, and only really stopped at the Himalayas. Interestingly, parallel mutations (but different ones) occurred in the Middle East and Africa, but not in the Far East or Australia. In a comparative blink of an eye (on an evolutionary scale) over 80% of Europeans became milk drinkers.

So that’s a basic overview of the kinds of changes that we’re dealing with. Small and big changes that can affect organisms. It’s important to know that these are random. Evolution is not a directed process, and the only thing that matters is if a change gives an advantage or a disadvantage to an organism. A common misconception is that evolution will lead to the best outcome. This is rarely the case, all that matters is that it is better than what was there before.

As for evolution in Zootopia, if we go with the hypothesis that the degree of evolutionary divergence is similar to real-world analogues, then the first thing that we have to deal with is the concept of multiple sentient species.

Sentience isn’t a single genic trait. It along with intelligence are multifaceted, but appear to involve multiple genes, and are correlated with development in the medial prefrontal cortex, and the medial posterior parietal cortex. Additional changes in the posterior cingulate cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and insular cortex contributing towards self-reference and self-reflection.

As this is a complex trait, the odds of it evolving in multiple species simultaneously is very, very low. To date, there is only one species that we consider to be fully sentient (humans) and 7 others who have passed the mirror self-recognition test (where they are able to distinguish an image as representing themselves): Chimps, Orangutans, Bonobos, Asian Elephants, Bottlenose Dolphins, Orcas, and the Eurasian Magpie. This means that something like a virus (common Sci-Fi trope) or parallel evolution is unlikely to be the source.

So what can we do to resolve this?

We go back in time.

Scientifically speaking, the best way to account for multiple sentient species is for an early form of sentience occurring back around 95-120 million years ago, particularly in the ancestors of crown mammal species. Mutations increasing the size and neuron count, particularly in the prefrontal cortex could spur this along, and with an early sense of sentience, it could also bring with it an increased propensity for a family unit to form, which could improve survivability, and also increase reproductive isolation between rival groups, thus accelerating speciation (to a small degree).

Some key time points:

  1.    **95-120Mya:** Protosentience evolved in the therian lineages. These would then evolve into the marsupials and crown mammals. Geographic and reproductive isolation provide the basis for the genetic divergence of these species. Keep in mind that during this time, mammals were generally small, as the dinosaurs were the apex at this time. The one advantage that mammals had was being fully endothermic meant that they could operate in locations and times that the larger predators couldn’t.
  2.    **65-95Mya:** Geographic dispersal and continued speciation. The earliest divergence occurs when epitheria and Xenarthra lineages (anteaters, armadillos and sloths) diverged around 80Mya, and then the separation of Epitheria and Philodota (pangolins…and that’s all that survived). It’s important to note that these were the only major deviations prior to the next big event…and keep in mind that mammals were the new kids on the block, and were competing for resources with dinosaurs. But not for long
  3.    **65-66Mya:** The K-Pg extinction event (AKA Armageddon without Bruce Willis to save the day). Yes this is the famous event that spelled the end for the dinosaurs (well really they became modern birds, but give me some narrative license). This resulted in a whole lot of species going extinct, but this also resulted in a huge opening for other species to move in, and this is when mammals thrived. Various surviving family groups would have been able to take advantage of new territories, and there would have been a big selective advantage towards the development of some rudimentary tool usage at this stage, also driving the development of some changes to the forelimbs to become more suited to grasping and manipulating objects. Nothing extreme at this point, but any change that would give an advantage would help. The probable isolation of the various groups would lead to rapid adaptive radiation as each group falls under the selective pressure of their new environment. This is also where a strong selective pressure to begin to deemphasize the use of the forelimbs (or hindlimbs really...but that would be a bit odd) for movement, and giving greater emphasis on them being used for manipulating the environment.
  4.    **65-40Mya:** The insectivores are the first to branch out here (moles, hedgehogs, shrews), and their focus on a single main protein source kinda forces them to remain on the small side. For the remaining mammals the next big break occurs between the lineage that will become the carnivores and ungulates, from the rodents and primates….except the ancestor of that one choked on a bad berry and left the picture.
  5.    **40Mya-30,000ya:** This is where the major mammal groups would have evolved, and also where the real interactions would have occurred between mammal groups.



So that’s the most scientific possibility, but there are plenty of others. If the selective pressure was much higher, it could have driven speciation at a faster rate. …and yes the possibility of Zootopia being a designed society is still a possibility. Disney Magic™ and all that.

In the next chapter, we’ll go through some of the adaptations that would have had to evolve to get to the Zootopia that we know and love, and also go into one of the major issues that this scenario causes, namely the protracted duration of all these species at what amounts to a Paleolithic level of development. Hominids only spent a couple of million years at this stage, but for Zootopia, we’re looking at 10-20X this length. Could this happen, and what would be the underlying cause?

* * *

A few final notes regarding some of the terminology used in this chapter:

 **N50:** This is a measurement used in computational biology when dealing with large sets of contigs (assembled DNA sequences of varying lengths). The N50 value is the size of the contig where, when added with all the contigs larger than it, contains half of the genome of an organism. For instance, if we have 5 contigs with lengths of 5,10,8,15, and 11, the sum of those contigs is 49, so half of the genome would be 24.5. As we can reach this using only the 2 largest contigs, 15 and 11, the N50 for this collection is 11. In terms of a genome assembly, having an N50 of 22,000 is really bad. You generally want this figure to be in the megabase range (>1,000,000 bp).

 **Emesis Basin:** This is a term that’s more commonly used in commonwealth countries. In the US, I believe this is sometimes called a kidney basin, so named because of its shape. It’s commonly used in medical procedures all over the world…although ironically, it’s rarely used to catch the results of emesis itself (vomit). The slope of the sides, as well as the volume are generally not large enough for it to handle the duties.

 **Paderson Weighted Speculum:** It’s actually a Peterson speculum, but I felt the need to at least make at least one terrible pun in this chapter. For those who are unaware, when examining female genitalia, a speculum is an instrument that is inserted into the vagina in order to open in up for better visibility and access. When a patient needs to have surgery, or is undergoing a D &E, a weighted speculum is used in order to further expand the vaginal opening.

 **Pedialyte:** This is basically medical grade Gatorade. It’s an electrolyte replacement solution, intended for use in children, but has increasingly been used by adults, both as a sports drink, and also as a hangover cure. It contains far less sugar that most sports drinks, as well as additional sodium and potassium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways, I’ll wrap things up for now. I’d like to say that the next chapter will be shorter…but I also said that about this one and we can all see how that worked out.
> 
> Regardless, keep sending your questions, comments or concerns and I hope that you’ll all continue to enjoy the story.
> 
> Eng050599


	11. Chapter 11: Duty and Responsibility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...yeah, this is becoming a habit, but this chapter took far longer than it should have. In addition to lab stuff, I also went through a major case of writer’s block on this one. It took me almost three weeks to make it through the first scene alone, and it really did a number on both my confidence, and my schedule. 
> 
> It was infuriating to have the entire chapter plotted out, but be utterly incapable of taking those bullet points and turning them into a real narrative. Fortunately, I did manage to break through the block, and the end result is a (thankfully) shorter chapter, but one that I hope will provide you some more insight into the mammals at the Honeywell Centre.
> 
> In addition to the writer’s block, I also spread myself a little thin helping out other authors. I was asked to guest author a chapter of WildeNick’s Three Months a Fox, and Chapter 21: The Little Dutch Boy was the result. WildeNick wanted to show how the medical establishment would be handling the savage crisis, and he reached out for some help in that regard. The end result was a snapshot of life inside one of Zootopia’s hospitals during, what I think, is the height of the savage mammal crisis. There’s even a exceedingly minor cameo by some of the staff at the Centre (don’t blink or you might miss it).
> 
> That wasn’t the only bit of cross pollination going on. In addition to the guest chapter, Dave got to make a cameo appearance in Chapter 8 of Kittah4’s A Day in their Fur Series. It’s a wonderful series that, as the title would indicate, delves into the lives of the various OCs that the author has created. I do recommend that you read his other works as well, as this chapter very much ties in with his other stories.
> 
> In addition to that, I was pleased to be able to help out twocentnuicance with some scientific details for Chapter 5 of his Zootopia: One Shots, One-offs, and Stories. If you haven’t had a chance to read his other stories, Ars Moriendi, and Entr’acte, I highly recommend them. Hopefully I’ll be able to bounce some ideas off of him in the future, as our discussion regarding some social aspects of Zootopia was fascinating.
> 
> There are also a few other consults that have occurred in the past month, but until those authors release their works, my lips (or fingers) are sealed.
> 
> Special Request: I do have one request for my readers. The cover art for this story represents the limits of my artistic talent (sad I know), and I’ve been thinking about having some proper artwork done to replace it, and even for a few of the individual chapters. Unfortunately, I don’t really know any artists in the fandom, so I’m looking for recommendations. If you know of anyone who might be interested in this, please let me know.
> 
> Now onto the usual thank you’s to all the readers who took the time to comment on the most recent chapter.
> 
> From FF.net 
> 
> Chorpion: Believe me, I needed something stronger than ice cream after finishing chapter 10. It was certainly a rollercoaster, but I’m proud at how it ended up. 
> 
> tomcatace99: I think a lot of these comments are going to be me apologizing for making the chapter so sad. I’m glad that the quality was in keeping with my desires for the story as a whole. 
> 
> jamdea: I know that my nit picking in relation to the minor medical details will go unnoticed by almost everyone, but I want this story to be realistic. It’s funny, but ever since your comment, I’ve had a few people reach out wondering if I’ll be releasing a physical copy of Lost Causes when it’s finished. 
> 
> Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps: As always I cherish your input for Lost Causes, and the last chapter wouldn’t have been the same without your help. 
> 
> Berzerker88: This chapter is a bit more toned down compared to the last one, but it will provide a bit more color to some of the characters in the story.
> 
> Nicolaiwulf: I probably should have put a disclaimer on the chapter saying “Don’t read this one in public!’ You weren’t the only one who had a tough time holding back tears.
> 
> From AO3: 
> 
> CAPTAINPRICE79: I hope that Coco’s settling in, and is still being well behaved.
> 
> wheresthecoffee: This time, it’s only one really sad scene to deal with, and the rest of the chapter has a mostly positive spin. There’s a bit of sappiness in this chapter as well, so hopefully that will counterbalance the first scene.
> 
> WolfGuardMiestwin: Hopefully the answers I provided were a reasonable explanation. For some species, I tend to picture them as being a bit larger than their terrestrial counterparts. This includes foxes, rabbits, and mustelids. 
> 
> As always my thanks go out to WildeNick for helping to edit this chapter. I went easy on him this time, and it’s only about half the size of chapter 10. Regardless, show him some love and take a look at his stories Good Cops Like You and Three Months a Fox.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Duty and Responsibility**

 

Dave had no idea how long he had been standing there, holding onto the Clawsons and adding his tears to their own. Time had ceased to have any meaning for them, and Isara’s words had been the last ones spoken as all three mammals were lost to a shared grief. He knew that for Isara and William, this was the closest they had ever come to having a child, and the loss was ever more pronounced for it. Isara clutched onto the still form of her son with an almost manic desperation as she rocked back and forth on the table, while William simply held onto her, his own paw, once again reaching out to touch the face of his son.

Dave had done what he could to hide the deformities that had doomed this kit, but it was a cold comfort for everyone present. There was nothing that he could do to ease their pain except to be there for them, to share in their grief. It was rare that he allowed himself to shed tears for the lost, and even rarer that he would do so openly. Today however was different; the Clawsons were different, and seeing the two have their hopes and dreams shattered against the cold reality of genetics once again had simply been too much for even him to take.

So he stood there, holding onto the pair of foxes, throughout it all his mind raced in a seemingly endless loop of self-recrimination.

_“I failed them.”_

_“I failed_ him _.”_

_“I failed myself.”_

_“I failed them…”_

He knew that he was guilty of the same self-flagellation he had accused Isara of prior to the procedure. In a way, it was selfish of him; he was punishing himself for something that he had no hope of being able to accomplish. _“But Spirits, how I want to.”_ he seethed internally as a new wave of tears cascaded down his cheeks, his frustration adding to the anguish he felt for the Clawsons.

In many ways, the worst part was the knowledge that no more than fifty feet away existed the possibility of a true miracle; at least he dared to hope. It was cruel just how real the chance seemed, as it was all the more likely that it was just another ember of hope waiting to be snuffed out. Knowing that, no matter how hard he and the others tried, all too soon he would be comforting Janet and Tommy through their own loss. He had been unable to help the ember of hope from rooting deep inside him, and it been growing all the brighter as he came to know the Reys, but this tableaux had been a crushing reminder of the price he’d pay for failure.

He cut off the thought with a low growl that was lost in his whimpering as he subconsciously held onto the Clawsons all the more tightly. Whether or not they noticed he couldn’t immediately tell, but as he drew in a shuddering breath, William reached up a paw to grasp onto his own.

The gray fox lifted his gaze away from Isara and the bundle in her arms. The pain that Dave could see in the other mammals gaze almost made him look away, but he instead returned both the gaze, as well as squeezed WIlliams paw slightly, once again providing what little support he could.

“Thank you….thank you for this.” William said drawing a deep breath before returning his gaze to his wife and son.

Dave shook his head sadly at the thought that this was something to be thankful for, but in his heart he knew what they meant. Isara had been right earlier; this would probably be the closest that they would come to ever having a child of their own blood...but this had been a grim reminder that likely never would. With every fiber of his being, he believed that these two would make wonderful parents, making the tragedy all the more poignant.

Without realizing it, his paw reached out to touch the cheek of the kit. When his mind caught up to the intrusion into the parent’s private grief, he jerked it back, only for it to be caught by Isara’s, and the fennec fox’s gentle pull returned it to the kit.

Isara took a hitching breath before speaking. “I’m s...sorry to put you through this,” she shook her head sadly, placing her own paw over top of his, “but thank you.”

Once again the little fox’s words stabbed at his heart and his reply was with an increasingly unsteady voice. “You never need to apologize for this Isara. This....well it’s been a part of me for a long time now.” His voice hitched as another wave of sadness cascaded over him; his thoughts giving form to his deepest wish. “I...I’d give anything to be able to fix this...to do _anything_.”

“We know....” Was all Isara said, her voice trailing off as her gaze remained fixed on her son.

His admission was the reality for every mammal in the Centre. This was what they were trying to prevent, but time and time again, they had failed. Dave’s ears twitched as he heard the door to the procedure room open, and he looked over his shoulder to see Ellen quietly make her way over to the trio. Taking in the scene, she gave Dave a brief embrace before focusing her attention on the Clawsons.

“Isara, I’m so sorry.” She said, reaching out to take the fennec’s paw in her hoof. Isara only nodded her head in reply, the few words spoken earlier having seemingly drained her.

Ellen looked up at Dave, and made a motion with her head towards the door. He shook his head in reply. “Not this time Ellen. This...this is where I need to be.”

The gazelle nodded her head in reply before reaching out to embrace Isara and William, and to start putting the broken pieces of the two mammals back together.

Time once again lost it’s hold for Dave, as wave after wave of grief filled the room as Ellen guided the couple through both their mourning as well as the details that needed to be worked out with regards to their son.

“Have you thought of a name?” She asked gently after a time, and both parents had sobbed as they blessed their child with a name of his own.

* * *

 

Dave walked out of the room a short while later, his furry cheeks damp, and his paws clutching onto an opaque container containing the remains of Steven Anthony Clawson. The name was engraved in his mind, along with the promise that he had made to the Clawsons when Isara had finally returned the body to Dave.

_“I’ll bring him home to you tomorrow, Isara.”_

It wasn’t the usual practice for a physician to be the one to return the remains to the family...in the all too rare occurrence where they claimed them at all, but it was a task he had volunteered for on previous occasions. For couples like the Clawsons, they truly were a part of the family at the Centre, and because they were family, Dave would see this through to the end personally.

His thoughts were still a jumbled mess as he leaned against the hallway wall for a moment to collect himself. Slowly his mental barriers were being reforged as he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. His nose and ears twitched as the presence of another mammal entered into his consciousness, and he cracked open one eye to see that Melissa was heading towards him.

“Are you alright Dr. Hawthorne?” She asked hesitantly, and Dave nodded his head in reply.

“This place demands a price Dr. Wilson.” He said, his voice surprisingly steady to his ears. “Sometimes that price is very high.”

“Is...is it always like this?” She asked with an undertone of worry etched into her voice.

Dave smiled slightly as he shook his head. “No...no. This has been a bad day. Most days do involve having to deliver bad news, pain, and loss, but today was a particularly awful example.” Looking over to the doe, he could see that there was some doubt on her face, but the determination he had seen in her eyes was still there in the background. “If it means anything, you did really well this morning.” He added after a moment then shook his head. “There aren’t many ways that could have gone worse...well non-medical ways at least.”

The doe gave a small laugh and looked down the hallway towards the delivery room. “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting them to react that way. Spirits that was awful to see.” Giving herself a shake she returned her gaze to Dave. “But thank you for showing me that.” A small smirk appeared on her muzzle as she continued. “You didn’t manage to scare me away Doct...Dave. I need to head over to start my rounds over at General, but in six weeks, I’ll be here.” She said with confidence.

“Then welcome aboard Melissa.” He said, stooping slightly as he offered the rabbit his paw, which she vigorously shook.

Releasing his paw, a slightly uncomfortable look flashed across her face. “Can I ask you something personal?” She hesitantly asked. Dave cocked his head in curiosity and nodded in reply.

Looking back towards the delivery room Melissa gaze was distant. “How do you deal with it? How do you manage to keep from falling apart?”

Dave gave a sharp bark of laughter at the questions. The doe looked up at him with a surprised expression on her muzzle. “How do I deal with it? Poorly.” He said, pointing out the damp patches under his eyes. “The truth is that you’re going to fall apart, and it will happen over and over. What matters is that you keep picking up the pieces.”  
  
He shrugged before continuing. “How you do that varies from mammal to mammal. For me, it’s my mate, Carol. Without her, I would have given up long ago. She’s put me back together more times than I can count.” He looked down at the doe and a smile formed on his muzzle. “I know for your dad, it’s you and the rest of your siblings. You’re the reason why he’s so dedicated to this place; to our work.”

Dave saw the insides of the doe’s ear redden slightly at the revelation, but she nodded her head in understanding. “I think I’ve known that for a long time.” She said finally. “You know, he still calls me every day, just to see how I’m doing, and I know he does the same for my brothers and sisters.” She gave a small laugh and smiled. “When my sister, Heather, had her first litter last year, she almost had to pry the kits out of his paws. I hadn’t seen him that happy in a long time.”

Dave chuckled at the mental image. “I don’t have any direct experience with something like that, but I’d imagine that any grandkits would hold a special place in his heart.” He sighed and looked around, taking in the Centre’s walls. “Working here does have one positive trait.” He looked back towards Melissa. “It makes you cherish what you have, and never take any of it for granted. With all that we have to deal with, those kits must be a real lifeline for him…” Then lightening his tone a bit, he added, “and I’m sure Doug spoils them unabashedly as a result.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Melissa replied amused. “Heather’s threatened to ban him from their warren if he keeps bringing more toys over.” She gave another laugh, “Last I heard, he had stopped bringing toys, and instead started bringing treats. Have you ever had to deal with six rabbit kits on a sugar high? It’s not pretty.”

“Ouch, using weaponized children against his own daughter.” Dave gave a real laugh at the concept, but then shook his head, and motioned to the container in his paw. “Unfortunately, I do need to get moving.” He once again offered the doe his paw before continuing. “It was good to finally meet you, and to have a chance to talk. I look forward to working with you Melissa.”

“Thanks...and take care of yourself Dave.” She said, looking sadly towards the container in his other paw.

Dave gave a small chuckle at the sentiment. “I’m afraid it’s duty first, then I pick up the pieces and move on.” He tipped his head and released her paw, before making his way to the elevator.

The conversation had given him enough time to fully find his center, and he had almost dissociated the remains in his paws from the name that still echoed in his mind. This was another responsibility of his. He had failed to help this kit, but now maybe he could turn this tragedy into something that might prevent others from suffering the same tragedy. He hadn’t been lying when he told Isara that he would give anything to undo the wrong that nature had committed, and the small part of his mind that still sobbed behind his mental walls was testament to this.

* * *

 

When he entered into the airlock, his nose and ears told him that he wasn’t alone in the change room. Laura was just coming out of the fur dryer, and hadn’t had a chance to put on her scrubs just yet. The two of them had seen each other naked so many times that it didn’t elicit any surprise or embarrassment from the ferret, and she initially smiled at him before noticing the container in his paws. Seeing it, her smile faded, and she sighed as she retrieved a fresh set of scrubs from the well stocked shelves and started suiting up.

“Did you want me to handle the sampling this time, Dave?” She asked, motioning with her paw towards the wet spots still visible around his eyes.

Dave shook his head before placing the container into the decontamination tray and starting to undress. “I’m okay Laura. It was a bad one, but I can handle the rest.”

“Is Ms. Clawson alright?” She asked, somewhat worried by his description of the procedure as a ‘bad one’.

Realizing his mistake, Dave clarified the situation for her. “Physically, everything went as planned. Mentally though, this one really hurt both of them. I think seeing him will help them in the long term, but Ellen is going to be doing a lot of follow-up.” Taking a shaking breath he continued, leaning against one of the lockers for support, “Damn it Laura, it hurt so much to see it.”

Laura sighed and rubbed her forehead with one paw. “We really need a mulligan on this whole fucking day.”

Dave gave a laugh at the thought. “If it were possible, I think it would be a race to see which of us would reach that button first. I wouldn’t mind a do over on this one. As it stands, I just need to get these samples prepped, and then _finally_ go and check in with the Reys. Tess is going to have my pelt if I don’t give her a status update soon.”

The ferret laughed at the comment as she finished donning the protective gear required for lab work. “If I can help it, I’m not leaving this lab until you and Cat clock out. It’s my first chance in weeks to do some research, and I’m not going to pass up the chance to dig into some of the preliminary data from our impossible fox.” She added with real excitement in her voice as she finished donning the head to heel coverings that were needed in the lab.

She headed towards the inner airlock door, but looked back over her shoulder. “We’re going to figure this one out Dave. I’ve got a feeling, that we’re going to make a difference this time.”

Dave was surprised by the candor of the statement. Laura was usually one of the most pragmatic physicians at the Centre, and with the odds seemingly so stacked against the Rey’s, her statement was all the more odd. Regardless of its origin, he couldn’t help but smile at the glimmer of hope in the ferrets voice. It seemed that he wasn't the only one who had been afflicted with that tiny ember of hope since meeting with the Reys.

“There’s something special about them Laura; I have to admit it. We know that everyone here is pulling for that kit...I just hope it’s enough.” He said, as he placed his clothes into his locker and headed into the shower. “If you find anything interesting, let me know.” He said over his shoulder as he turned on the water. This time, there was more than simple protocol behind his vigorously scrubbing of the shampoo through his fur. Even though he was nose-blind to it, he knew that the scent of his earlier grief would still be radiating off of him, and would distract the other mammals in the lab. They cared for each other, and knowing that he was in pain would distract their attention from the critical work that was being done.

 _“We need to be focused, and I’m not going to let them down!”_ He made the mental promise to his patients, as he rinsed the lather from his body, and moved into the fur dryer to finish the decontamination process. As the warm air wicked the last dregs of moisture from his fur, he silently hoped that Laura’s prediction would ring true. Three lives stood in the balance, and once again he felt the weight of responsibility settled onto his shoulders, as he grabbed a fresh set up scrubs and began suiting up.

* * *

 

Upon entering  the lab proper, he couldn’t help but laugh. Resting prominently on his bench were two empty bottles of Pedialyte with a note taped to the front. The message was quite succinct:

**“Happy Now?!”**

Looking over to where Beth, Genevieve and Abby were once again seated in front of a large screen, trying to pair up Tommy’s chromosomes with their lupine counterparts. Hearing his laugh, the trio turned towards him, and once again it was a miracle that he wasn’t vaporized on the spot from the combined glare of the three females.

Nodding to the group he retrieved the container from the decontamination bath. “Yes I am, and I’m fairly sure you’re feeling better as a result.” He said as he made his way to his bench, and after placing the container by the dissecting scope, he dramatically picked up the two bottles, and tossed them into the trash.

He returned his gaze to the trio. “So who drank the extra?” He asked with some curiosity. He had only ‘prescribed’ a just over one and a quarter bottle, but both containers had been fully drained.

In reply, Abby pulled down her muzzle mask and stuck out a still slightly purple stained tongue. Replacing the mask she shrugged. “That stuff’s actually pretty good, and I didn’t want it to go to waste...but I think I’m going to regret it in a little while.” She added, and there were chuckles from around the lab.

There was no such thing as a quick bathroom break in a BSL3 lab. Every trip required that you go through the full decontamination procedure, shower included. Having consumed almost two litres of liquid was going to have consequences for the young wolf, but Dave was glad that all three of them had taken his advice.

Returning his attention to his bench, he took a steadying breath and prepped the various tubes and vials that would be needed for this task. Something else was needed before he could start as well, and he took another second to brace himself, and sequester what emotion had made it through the airlock. In here, emotion was as much a contaminant as any microbe or fur follicle, and it was his responsibility to ensure that nothing of that nature got in the way of doing what needed to be done. With his mind clear, he was left with only a sense of duty to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future. He retrieved the small form and placed it under the dissecting microscope. The scalpel was steady in his paws, and he set to work on reaping another grim harvest.

* * *

 

After sealing the final tube and depositing it into the liquid nitrogen to snap freeze, he placed the samples into the freezer for later processing. He figured it would be a few days before they would be sequenced, as everyone’s priority was going to be the Reys for the foreseeable future. Every sequencer was running around the clock to generate the data that they needed to figure out what they would need to do to make this miracle happen...if they could make it happen.

Passing by Arnold’s bench, he saw that the hippo was in the process of making another library for sequencing. He cocked his head to the side as he tried to think of why yet another sequencing run would be needed. Once the BGSeqs were done with their current runs, there would be an abundance of sequence data for both of the Reys, and the fetus’ tissue cultures wouldn’t be ready to sample until tomorrow at the earliest.  
  
“What samples are those Arnold?” He asked, his curiosity plainly evident in his tone.  
  
“I’m just getting ahead of things.” He said motioning to the tubes with one hoof. “The libraries that I prepped for the BGSeqs won’t work when the new Sequel system gets here, so I’m prepping both the Reys samples for the long read sequencer.” He motioned towards the tissue culture room. “If I can get the fetal DNA extracted in time, it will take priority, but Donnie wants more data from Mr. Rey specifically.” The hippo motioned towards Donnie, who was still hunched over his keyboard. “He’s been working non-stop to close the gaps in the rapid run, but there’s only so much he can do with the limited sequence we have.”

Dave nodded in understanding, and admiration for the forethought displayed by the tech. In the end, it would only save them a couple of hours, but those minutes could be precious gifts.

Looking over to the row of sequencers, Dave frowned slightly. “How much time until the single cell sequence runs from the fetus are ready?” He asked, knowing that getting the fetus’ genome sequenced needed to be their priority if they had any hope of correcting the almost inevitable genetic nightmare that she represented.

Every cell division that took place was more tissue that would need to be edited. He knew that ]the major tissues and organs had developed already, and they’d need to use their entire arsenal of viral vectors to make the necessary changes...if they could make the changes at all. The run would be filled with errors, he knew that, but it was a starting point...and it would be two days before the tissue culture cells would be sequenced, provided Jason was accurate, and they could harvest them tomorrow.

Arnold looked up from his samples, and glanced over to the unit in question. He squinted to make out the details on the screen at a distance. “Probably another ten hours or so. It’s a 36 hour run, and they went in around noon yesterday.”

Dave sighed at the delay, and Arnold gave him an apologetic look. “I can’t make them go any faster Dave. Believe me I wish I could.”

Laura chose that moment to chime in, looking over at Dave from her lab bench. “One nice thing about the new Sequel system is that we can get the results in real time.” Dave could tell the ferret was smiling under her muzzle mask. “Nice job in swiping that unit from ZU by the way.”

Donnie gave a laugh at the comment. “Somehow I don’t think that paying twice what the sequencer is worth quite qualifies as _‘swiping’_ Laura.”

“We get it, they don’t. That’s what matters, I guess.” Laura shrugged, and then a thoughtful expression appeared in her eyes. “It might be time to upgrade our mass spec as well. I’d like to get a new toy myself you know.”

Dave had to laugh at the comment. Laura’s research focus dealt with comparative proteomics...and she had already received a _new toy_ just last year in the form of a top of the line Edman sequencer. Somehow he didn’t think that she’d manage to convince Doug that it was a necessary expense this time around.

It was Arnold who spoke up first. “The mass spec is only a couple of years old Laura. We’re not due for an upgrade on it for another year at least.” It was his job to run much of the sequencing and related equipment, and he always made sure that they were in top shape.

Laura glared at the hippo, but eventually let out a sigh. “A girl can dream, can’t I?” She asked somewhat dejectedly before turning back to her workstation.

Dave gave his head a shake, and looked at the wall mounted clock. It was just past four, and he needed to check in on Ms. Rey before it got any later. Waving a paw at the assembled lab crew, he made his way over to the airlock. Just as he was closing the door, he heard Abby call out, “Hold the door!” she said with some panic on her voice.

He held the door, as the she-wolf dashed into the change room, wasting no time in divesting herself of her protective clothing and heading for one of the showers. “This might be a photo finish.” She added good naturedly as she rushed to make it through the decontamination process.

Dave had to laugh as he made his way to another stall and went about scrubbing himself down for the fifth time today.

* * *

 

While making his way up to the second floor, Dave was surprised to see a fire truck parked outside the Centre through the window. He hadn’t heard any alarms or sirens, which left visitors as the most likely reason for it’s presence.

When he reached Ms. Rey’s room, the sound of jovial voices from within confirmed his guess. Knocking on the door before letting himself in, he was somewhat surprised by the sheer number of mammals in the room.  
  
_“It looks like the entire station showed up.”_ He mused internally as the dozen or so mammals all turned their gaze to the new arrival. All were partially dressed in their uniforms, only forgoing the eponymous jackets and headgear.

Janet had a broad smile on her muzzle, and seemed genuinely touched at the various gifts that her co-workers had brought. A bouquet of flowers, along with a myriad of balloons, all displaying phrases like _‘Congratulations!’_ , _‘Baby on Board!’_ , or _‘A New Pup in the Pack!’_ . He couldn’t help but smile at the impromptu celebration he was witnessing. It was a rare event for _any_ happiness to occur within these walls, but he couldn’t help but feel some sense of dread that any celebration at all was perhaps to tempting for fate to ignore.

Dave was somewhat surprised that Janet would have told her comrades the details of her condition so soon This was still very early in the pregnancy, and with the odds stacked as they were, he silently hoped that she wasn’t setting herself and Tommy up for tragedy. He drew on Laura’s earlier prediction for strength, and reaffirmed his promise to everything he could to make sure that in two and a half months, these same mammals would become the beaming parents of a happy, healthy pup.

 _“It’s a comforting fantasy to have. Now we need to make it happen.”_ He thought to himself. He knew that hope was a dangerous thing to grasp onto in this place, but once again, seeing the support that Janet had, it made the necessity of his job all the more clear.

Janet noticed Dave standing near the doorway, and motioned him over with a beckoning paw. “Good afternoon, Dr. Hawthorne. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be seeing you today.” She said jovially. “I don’t know how the word got out, but this mangy group is the crew of ZFD station number 34. BIG HOUSE REPRESENT!” Janet cried out, and the assembled mammals let loose with a cavalcade of cheers.  
  
Dave desperately fought the urge to join in as Janet and one other wolf let loose with an undulating howl, but eventually instinct won out, and he raised his muzzle to the sky and added his voice to those of his fellow wolves. The caterwauling quickly faded as the as the fire crew devolved into a vigorous series of embraces and high fours. Dave felt the beginnings of a blush under his fur, slightly embarrassed at what he viewed as an invasion into Janet’s sphere.

His discomfort didn’t go unnoticed, and he was quickly brought into the group, exchanging pawshakes with the assorted mammals assembled in the room. When he reached the other wolf, the fellow canine had a slight look of reproach on his face, but the expression was more amused than anything else. “The howl is part of who we are, Doc. No reason to be embarrassed by it. I’m Tyler by the way.” He said, and there were chuckles from the surrounding mammals.

Dave shrugged but had a smile on his muzzle when he replied. “It’s a professional image thing. We deal with a lot of prey species here, and a wolf howl isn’t exactly comforting to them. The image of your physician baying at the moon perhaps isn’t the best way to invoke confidence in your abilities, but you’re right, it’s part of our culture for certain.”

Tyler nodded in understanding. “I can see that, and we actually have to deal with similar stuff on the job.” He looked around to his coworkers, who nodded sagely. “For some mammals, seeing a pred coming towards them out of the flames and smoke can cause them to panic. It’s part of the reason why our gear’s designed to hide our species unless you get really close.”

Looking over to Janet, the smile returned to his muzzle. “As for how we figured out you had a bun in the oven, well this place only deals with one kind of patient. We’re not all lug-heads like Jack here.” He added, boking his thumb towards a large male cape buffalo who gave a disapproving glare at the comment.

“Insulting your boss in public isn’t going to win you many friends, Tyler.” He said in mock seriousness before offering his hoof to Dave. “Captain Jack Bogo, station chief for ZFD thirty four.”

Dave took the extended paw in his own. “David Hawthorne sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you...all of you.” He added after a moment.

The Captain’s expression grew serious. “While you’re here, Doctor, when can I expect Janet to be back in action? She’s an important part of the team, and we’re all worried about her and Tommy.”

Dave leaned over so that he could see Janet past the much larger mammal, his eyebrows raised in an unspoken question.

Fortunately, Janet seemed to understand his position, and gave a small laugh and dismissed his concern with a wave of her paw. “Go ahead and answer Dr. Hawthorne. These guys are as close to family as you can get. I’ll cut things off if it gets too personal, but the Captain’s question is one I’m curious about myself.”

Dave nodded both in thanks and understanding. “We’re still too early to give any hard numbers for something like this. I’d say at least another week before we will have a full handle on a treatment plan, but the odds are quite high that I won’t be able to clear Ms. Rey for full duty until the pup’s born. Depending on how things work out, she may be able to go back for some light work, but this isn’t something that we want to take any risks on.” Looking between Janet and her boss, he kept a serious tone to his voice. “I hope you can understand that?”

Captain Bogo looked disappointed at the response but nodded his head. “I’ll be honest, that’s what I thought you were gonna say.” Looking back at Janet, he continued. “I was hoping to have you back sooner than that, but you’ve got more important things to worry about right now Rey.”

Janet smiled at the compliment. “Thanks Jack...all of you.” She said warmly looking around to her assembled colleagues. “It all been so much to take in, and in such a short time. It means a lot to have you guys in my corner.”

The firefighters all voiced their support for their comrade, with some of them taking the chance to embrace the wolf. The cacophony of support only ended when a female moose, after embracing Janet shook her head at the wolf. “I have to admit, I never thought I’d get to see this. You always told us it was impossible, Janet.” The moose looked somewhat sheepishly at the comment. “I might have said a few prayers for you and Tommy about it during service.”

Although he personally didn’t place any weight behind the statement, he conceded internally that there were a lot of seemingly impossible events resulting in this confluence. Regardless, he’d focus on finding a medical basis for it and leave the theology to the professionals.

“Francine, as far as _I_ knew, it was impossible.” Janet shrugged, not looking flustered by the situation, although Dave’s nose once again picked up on her unease. “Tommy and I never thought it would be an option for us.”

Dave chose that moment to chime in. “If it makes you feel any better, if you had asked me two days ago, I would have said the same thing.” Looking over at Francine, he continued. “We’re doing everything we can to try and help Janet, Tommy, and their pup. Medicine is filled with instances where what was impossible yesterday is the norm today. Maybe this is another of those moments?”

He knew that he was being deliberately vague about some of the details, and the actual probabilities involved. Part of it was professional ethics, as they really weren’t his secrets to share in the first place. Deep down however, he also knew it was because hope is more of a motivator than despair, and Janet would need all the support these mammals could provide in the coming weeks.

The assembled mammals nodded their heads in understanding, with more than a few of them reaching out to give Janet’s shoulder a brief shake. The touches silently voicing their support for her. Captain Bogo let loose with a brief whistle, and the group came to something close to attention.

“OK crew! Let’s get out of Rey’s fur and let the mammals here do their work.” He said in a voice that was used to issuing orders. He turned back to Janet, and opened his arms as invitation to the wolf, who readily returned his embrace. “You take care of yourself Janet, and Tommy too.”

“I will Jack, and thanks for coming here.” She released the cape buffalo, and looked to the rest of her crew. “This really means a lot to me, and I know Tommy will appreciate it as well.” Her words were husky, as she spoke, and Dave was sure that every mammal in the room noticed how her paw came to rest on her abdomen.

Jack smiled and looked over to Dave. “You take care of her Doc. If you guys need anything, you just need to ask.”

Dave nodded as he replied somberly. “You have my word that we will do everything possible.”

The Captain inclined his head, and motioned for the fire crew to depart. The assorted mammals alternated between bidding Janet farewell and offering Dave a paw or hoof to shake, or merely a wave in farewell. Within moments, he and Janet were once again alone in the room. Janet waited until the last of her coworkers had gone before taking a shuddering breath, and leaning against the wall for support.

Concern was immediately written all over Dave’s face as he moved to her side, already reaching out to check her vitals. “Janet, what’s happening? Are you OK?”

She shook her head and waved a paw to ward him off. “No, nothing like that.” She looked up at him and had a weak smile on her muzzle. “I don’t think I was quite ready to share the news, and having them show up just threw me for a loop.” She gave a small laugh and her smile shifted to a wry one before continuing. “I guess saying where I was kinda gave the secret away. I didn’t think they’d look into it so quickly.”

Dave nodded, and offered her his arm in support. Once he was certain that she was steady, he helped her reach her bed, and waited until she was settled before speaking. “Is it OK for me to just give you a quick once over?” He asked, most of his concern abating given the surprise Janet had probably felt seeing so many of her colleagues on such short notice.

Janet nodded her head, and while Dave started going through a brief physical exam, he noticed that she had a worried expression on her face. Pausing in his ministrations, his own expression grew thoughtful. “Penny for your thoughts?” He asked, opening the door for his patient to say what was bothering her.

Janet shook her head in reply, but then paused and sighed. “I need you to be straight with me Dr. Hawthorne. Tommy’s not here, and I need to know, what are the real chances that this is going to work out?” She asked, worry and sadness at the forefront of her voice. “He spent most of last night planning out our pups whole life it seemed like, and I just…” She broke off, and Dave could smell the fear and dread coming off of her in waves. Instinctively, he reached out and took her paw in his own. She immediately gripped it strongly; any sign of support apparently a welcome one.

She took several breaths to calm down before continuing. “He wants this so much, and I’ve tried to tell him what the chances are, but I just can’t bare to see him hurt.” She closed her eyes against the tears that Dave could see brimming. “If I lose our pup...Spirits I think it might break him.”

Dave reached out his free paw, and placed it on the other wolf’s shoulder. “Janet, I wish I could tell you how this is going to end. The truth is that the odds are stacked against you, but do you want to know something?” he asked, with some real hope in his voice.

Janet opened her eyes, and Dave could see her desire to know the answer to the question. He had a real smile on his muzzle when he replied. “Always remember that Tommy is already a medical miracle. According to all the data and science out there, he’s an impossibility, but there he is. Your friend, your mate, and the father of your pup. That is something that I can confirm now by the way. We had the results come in earlier today showing that this really is yours and Tommy’s pup.”

Janet gave a small cry at the words, her free paw reaching up to the front of her muzzle as the beginnings of a smile began to form. She shook her head before speaking, “I’ve know that from the get-go, but hearing you say it is still a big relief.” There were still tears in her eyes, but some of the sadness had been banished. Not wanting to lose the progress that he had made, Dave continued.

“We’ve already have one statistical impossibility walk through these doors. I don’t see why doing everything we can to make that two is an insurmountable goal. Everyone here will do just that to make sure that it becomes a reality.” He gave a small bark of laughter as a thought occurred to him. “You might feel a bit better to know that I spent almost three million dollars this morning purchasing a certain piece of equipment to help us with that very task. It will be here tomorrow.”

Janet became very still, and looked up at him with her eyes wide in surprise. “Three million? For us? What...why?”

The shock of the revelation was clear in her voice, and Dave’s smile grew wider as the implications of his statement became clear. “Janet, what Dr. Wilson said yesterday was the absolute truth, You, Tommy, and your pup are the entire reason why we are all here. We will do everything we can to make sure that all three of you leave here healthy and whole. Anything else; money, time, sweat, tears; it’s all meaningless compared to achieving that goal.” He said, allowing the conviction that he felt behind the words to be heard.  
  
What he did not add was that almost the entire staff here would sacrifice far more than that if it came down to it. Their work had cost the mammals working at the Centre friends and family in the past. Marriages had crumbled under the pressures of this place, and more than one medical professional had hung up their lab coat for good when their mental health finally gave in.

Janet shook her head in disbelief. “ I...I don’t know what to say.” She just stared at Dave, the impossibility of the situation leaving her without words.

Dave released her shoulder and moved to continue his exam. “You don’t need to say anything, Janet. Just please believe me when I say that we...I will not stop trying to help you and your family.”  
  
Janet seemed to relax at the promise, but she looked at Dave with a serious expression on her face. “Thank you Dr. Hawthorne, but...please don’t tell Tommy about the odds. Let him keep on dreaming...he’s doing it for both of us.”

Dave paused and considered the request. “I won’t lie to him Janet,” he said finally, “but I won’t bring it up unprompted.” He shook his head slightly in contemplation. “You know him better than anyone else, so I’ll let you decide how to handle this, but please remember it’s his pup too.”

Janet nodded her head and smiled. “Can I make one other request?” She asked quietly.

Dave nodded, and motioned with his paw for her to continue.  
  
“He should be back any time now. Could you let me tell him the news?” She asked, and Dave’s smile grew even wider at the request.

“Of course you can tell him.” He said warmly, and had a brief chuckle at the request. “I’d imagine he already knows it as well, but it’s always a relief to have proof. Would you like to be alone when you do it?” He asked as he motioned for her to sit up so he could listen to her chest.

Janet shook her head, “No, it’s fine, and he might have some questions for you. He’s been trying so hard to understand the technical details, but we’re both way outside of our comfort zones on this one.”

Dave nodded, and listened to the other wolf’s heart and lungs. Finding nothing amiss in his examination, he indicated that she could lay back down, but instead she elected to remain seated on the bed.

“Are you still feeling a bit fatigued?” He asked when he was sure she was settled, already reaching over to press the button to summon one of the nurses.

Janet nodded, but still had a smile on her muzzle. “A bit, I guess. Seeing the gang was a nice surprise, but it took a bit out of me.”

“I can imagine.” Dave replied, “This whole affair is quite a shock to your system. The pregnancy, having to come here, telling your friends, it all takes a toll. I’m going to up your food intake a bit to see if that helps. We’ll also do another set of blood draws now and in the morning to see if it makes a difference.”

Janet made a face at the prospect of even more testing, and Dave held up his paws in supplication while laughing quietly. “I know, I know; you’ve been poked and prodded almost non-stop, but that should be slowing down in the near future. Unfortunately, it will pick up again once we have a treatment plan in place, but these will probably be the last tests until Monday I’d think.”

There was a knock on the door, and both Dave and Janet looked over as Sara Mills entered into the room. “Did you need something Dr. Hawthorne?” She asked, realizing that it had probably been him who buzzed her.

“Yes Nurse Mills, would you mind grabbing a couple sample tubes for a blood draw. I’d like a full nutrition panel done up for Ms. Rey.” He said warmly. “I’m just going to grab her a couple of sandwiches from the lounge. It’s too late to change her dinner order with the caterer, but I’d like an extra 300 calories per day added on starting tomorrow.”

Sara made a note on Janet’s chart before looking back at Dave. “I’m on it Dr. Hawthorne. As a suggestion, the turkey melt was really good today.” The bobcat added.

In either a subconscious our intentional gesture, the bobcat licked her chops at the mention of the sandwich, and Dave’s ears twitched as a low growl could be heard throughout the room. It wasn’t a growl of aggression...at least not in the normal sense. Looking back to his patient, he saw Janet holding a paw to her abdomen, her ears slightly pinned back in embarrassment.

Looking between Dave and Sara she smiled guiltily. “Sorry about that.” She said. “I guess I’m hungrier than I thought, and that does sound good right about now.”

Dave and Sara gave barks of laughter at the admission. “Given your stomach’s vote on the matter, I’ll get right on that.”

As he started to leave the room, he saw Sara shake her head at Ms. Rey. “Janet, we’re not trying to starve you here. If you’re feeling hungry just let me know. We need to keep track of what you’re eating, but you need to keep…”

The sounds of the conversation, _“Or more correctly now, lecture.”_ Dave thought to himself, faded as he made his way out of the private room. Sara was right of course, and he made a mental note to keep tabs on Janet’s food intake and energy levels. Although the phrase ‘eating for two’ was a common one among the Zootopian population, it wasn’t entirely accurate. He’d need to keep his eye on Janet’s condition in the next few days, to make sure she was getting enough food for both herself and her pup.

Making his way to the second floor lounge, he retrieved two of the recommended turkey melts from the fridge, and tossed them into the microwave to revitalize the melt aspect of the dish. The action also gave him some time to think.

 _“This is probably just a simple caloric deficit.”_ He mused, going over the various possibilities, ranging from the benign to a greater concern. _“She has an activity level well above the average for a wolf in the city, but Jim already took that into consideration when he made up the diet plan, and the fetus is a minor issue at this stage.”_ He paused his train of thought as he remembered the fox part of the equation.

“Could that be the issue?” He mumbled quietly.

Although it was true that wolves and foxes had similar nutritional requirements, there were some very real differences. Foxes tended to need a higher protein level in their diets. In the case of processed, or even cooked food items, additional supplementation was required to bring up the levels of certain amino acids. Janet, as a wolf, should be producing those amino acids in sufficient quantities to deal with the needs of the fetus, but to be on the safe side, a few alterations would need to be made.

A beep from the microwave, jolted him from his thoughts. Shaking his head, he retrieved the snack and made his way to the supply room, where he picked up a commercial protein shake catered to mustelids and foxes, before returning to Janet’s room, his nose twitching the entire way back.  
  
_“That does smell good,”_ He thought, and gave a small laugh realizing the error he had made at lunch. _“And I settled for egg and tuna sandwiches today.”_

When he entered the room, he saw that Janet had taken a seat at the small table by the window. Sara had retrieved the sampling equipment, and it was laid out on a tray beside his patient. Dave smiled, and placed the food off to the side, and proceeded to wash his paws before donning a pair of gloves, and taking a seat across from Janet.

“Here we go again.” Janet said dejectedly as she offered her left arm to Dave, who proceeded to quickly wrap a length of rubber tubing around her upper arm, before dousing the area around the now more visible vein in alcohol. Retrieving the needle from the tray, he removed the safety cap, but paused briefly before moving further.

“So Janet, just so you know, I’d like to make a few changes to your diet.” He started smoothly, taking advantage of the distraction to insert the needle. Reaching over to retrieve one of the sample vials, he continued. “I don’t think there are any real issues, but I’m going to increase your protein intake a bit, as well as have you take some supplements that are usually used for foxes and the like.”

Janet nodded her head, and Dave could tell that his distractions hadn’t been entirely successful, but her attention was firmly on his face, and not on her arm, which was the overall intent.

“Does it make any sense that I haven’t been feeling hungry in general, but when Nurse Mills mentioned that sandwich...which you’re torturing me with by the way, Doc, I was suddenly famished?” She asked as Dave swapped out the first vial for the second.

He shook his head in reply. “At this stage, I don’t want to read too much into it. The pregnancy isn’t at a stage where it will be a major factor just yet. This is more me being cautious.” Looking up to meet her gaze he smiled warmly at her to show that he truly wasn’t that concerned. “You’re probably more aware than most about the dietary differences between wolves and foxes.”

Janet laughed, and he removed the second sample vial before withdrawing the needle, and pressing down on the wound with a cotton ball. “Oh yes. I’m well aware. We’ve basically been eating a fox diet since we got together.” She shrugged before continuing. “It’s not that different really, just…” She broke off when she saw Dave’s expression change to one of surprise.

“Doctor Hawthorne, is everything alright?” She asked, a note of worry entering into her voice.

Dave shook his head to clear his thoughts, and gave a small chuckle. “Everything’s fine Janet. That was just me realizing that Jim, I mean Dr. Cerval and I, are idiots.” He gave a much stronger laugh at the omission, but moved to clarify when he saw Janet cock her head to the side in confusion. “We should have realized that you’d probably be consuming a diet that was balanced for the both of you. We started you off on a slightly modified _lupus_ maternal diet, but your body is already pretty used to a standard fox diet.”

Dave shrugged but smiled at his patient. “I don’t think this is anything more than us changing up your diet to one that your body’s just not used to. We’ll get you back to something closer to home starting tomorrow.” He said, as he directed Janet to maintain pressure on the cotton ball.

Janet laughed herself at the pronouncement and then shook her head. “I guess I should have been a bit more descriptive when Nurse Uddington asked us about the kinds of food we ate. I think Tommy and I were still in shock, and just gave some pretty generic answers.”

Janet pantomimed a blank vacant gaze and spoke in a bland monotone. “Uhh, chicken’s good I guess...I like strawberries.” Dave laughed, and Janet looked towards him with a serious expression. “I’m not joking. _I said_ that to her.”

Both wolves laughed at the situation, with Dave taking a moment to retrieve the sandwiches and drink for his patient, and passing off the sample tubes to Nurse Mills. Once they were on their way to the lab, and Janet was settled in, rapidly consuming the snack, he grabbed her chart from the foot of her bed and began to get a more detailed picture of the Rey’s home diet so as to avoid these issues in the future.

* * *

 

A short while later, Janet and Dave had worked up a more reasonable meal plan for her stay at the Centre. Janet was in the process of jotting down the recipe for a berry and herb stuffed chicken breast that was apparently a favourite of the pair. Dave having indicated that the caterer would have no issues with custom menu items...not to mention the fact that he relished the thought of treating Carol to something new at home in the near future.

He was silently thankful that the Rey’s had not been among those to take up the recent fad of adopting a vegetarian diet. For carnivores, real meat protein in some form or another was difficult to replace fully. In most cases, supplements could be used to make up the difference, but even so, there were real health concerns involved. He and Carol had long ago decided that it wouldn’t be healthy for them to make the switch, regardless of the social pressure that they sometimes felt, and Dave was certain that Janet and Tommy must have come to a similar conclusion.

“We want you two to be comfortable here, and let’s face it, food equals comfort in many ways.” Dave said, as he took the recipe from Janet’s paws. He made a few final notes on Janet’s chart before a voice from the door drew their attention.

“Janet! I’m back!” Tommy’s excited voice echoed through the halls as the fox practically bounded into the room. He was wearing civilian clothes and was carrying a backpack casually in one paw. From his scent, or rather the diminished strength of his personal musk, he must have taken the time to shower before heading over.

Seeing Dave in the room, Tommy paused in his excited greeting of his mate, but only for a moment, and Janet quickly rose to her feet, and rushed over the embrace her mate. Dave stood to the side, not wanting to intrude on the reunion.

“Welcome back, Tommy! How did it go today? Was Mr. Davis upset that you missed work yesterday?” She asked, with some worry in her voice.

Tommy shook his head, and smiled up at her. “No. I told him where you were, and gave him the note from Dr. Hawthorne. He said that if I needed more time off, I just need to ask.”

Janet gave a sigh of relief, the situation of Tommy’s work obviously having been a concern of her’s. “That’s wonderful Tommy, but remember that you need to keep up with your training. Mr. Davis is a wonderful old deer for letting you take time off, but he still relies on you.”

Tommy gave a small laugh at Janet’s words. “I knew that’s what you’d say Janet. I told him I’d be there every day I can.” Tommy looked at his mate with a serious expression. “He asked me to say that he’ll be praying for us.” He looked a bit ashamed when he next spoke.”I slipped up and said we were having a pup. I know you said we should wait, but I got excited.” Tommy hung his head at the admission. “I’m sorry.”

Janet laughed, motioning to the various balloons decorating the room, and embraced her mate all the more fiercely. “Don’t worry about it, Tommy. The catfish is out of the net on our little secret. Someone at the station figured it out already, since there’s only really one possible reason for me to stay here.” She released Tommy and placed her paws on either side of his face. “I had the whole gang come by earlier.”

Dave could see Tommy’s eyes widen in surprise. “So that’s why I smell Jack and the rest.” The fox’s nose began twitching again, and his smile widened. “Wow they all really were here. That’s great Janet...and something smells really good too.” Looking past his mate he spotted the empty plate, and he looked back at his mate, with a slightly pleading look in his eyes.

Dave took pity on the fox, and with a small chuckle finally spoke up. “Don’t worry, Tommy. I’ll go grab you one as well. Janey was feeling a bit hungry a while ago, and it turns out that the caterer did a very good job today.” Retrieving the used dish, he looked back at the couple. “It will also give you two some time to get settled without having an audience.”

The couple laughed at his comment before returning their attentions to each other. Dave took his leave of the two and made his way back to the lounge. Fortunately, there was still one of the turkey melts in the fridge, and after warming the sandwich, he poured two mugs of coffee before returning to the Rey’s room.

Entering the room, he saw that Janet and Tommy were standing by the window, looking out over the city, their arms wrapped around each other. As was usually the case, he noted, Tommy was leaning slightly into Janet’s side, trying to have as much of his body in contact with his mate as was possible at all times.  
  
He smiled at the pair, knowing that Carol and he often did the same thing at home. It was a rare day that they would wake up with their being no contact between the two of them, and more often than not, one of them awoke fully in the embrace of the other. It was just the way things were for most canids, but it was always something special for each pair.

Whether it was the sounds of his feet, or the smell of the sandwich and coffee, it didn’t matter, as the Rey’s became aware of his presence and turned to face him. Tommy eyes were firmly focused on the plate in Dave’s hand, and with a laugh, Dave offered the food and one of the mugs to the smaller fox.

“Thank you Dr. Hawthorne.” He said simply, before taking a seat at the table, Janet joining him after claiming the second mug from Dave’s paws.

Janet took a seat beside her mate, and managed to draw his attention away from the snack, at least momentarily. “Tommy,” Janet began, “Dr. Hawthorne had some good news while you were gone.”

Instantly, Tommy’s attention was focused on his mate, and excitement was clearly visible in his impossibly multi-hued eyes. He waited for a moment before motioning enthusiastically with his paws. “And? What’s the news?”

Janet smiled at her mate’s expression. “They were able to prove that it’s really our pup, Tommy. We really did it!” Janet said, and Dave could see the affection she had in her eyes. She might have know the truth before he had told her, but this confirmation did mean something to her.

Tommy’s face was still for a moment before he simply shook his head and smiled. “Janet, I always knew that.” He laughed before reaching over to embrace his mate. “You silly wolf. I always knew.”

Janet also laughed, and wrapped her arms around Tommy. The two held each other for a brief moment before releasing their hold. Tommy moved in to give a place a small kiss on his mate’s cheek.

Dave gave the two a moment to settle before he decided to chime in. “I thought you’d feel that way Tommy, but this does change some things.” Tommy looked at him with some concern, but Dave held up a paw to forestall any of his worries. “Nothing medical Tommy, don’t worry about that.” Seeing the fox relax slightly, Dave couldn’t help but have a grin on his muzzle as he continued. “What this means is that we can now offer you the same income replacement, and support that Janet has. If you think Janet needs you here, we don’t want you worrying about money, and if either of you need it, our legal team will help you secure a leave of absence from the ZTA or the ZFD...and I don’t mind saying, we have some very good lawyers.”

The two laughed at the implications of his comment. “The real reason why we do this is that we don’t want you to have any worries outside of each other and your pup, and we will do everything we can to make sure that anything else that comes up is taken care of as well.”

Tommy’s expression was of surprise at the statement, but he nodded in understanding of the rationale. “I understand...and thank you.” He looked over at Janet. “I’d still like to keep training. Do you think that’s OK? I’m getting really close, and Mr. Davis says I might be able to get certified by summer.” The fox paused briefly and seemed to shrink slightly. “I’m sorry Janet. That was selfish. If you need me here, you know I’ll be here.”

Janet laughed and once again reached out to her fox. “Tommy, we both know you’ve worked so hard to make it this far, and as I said earlier, I want you to keep up with your training. I’m fine here, and I’m not going to make you sit around here just for me.” Cupping his cheek with one paw she looked into his eyes. “You keep studying, and make me proud. OK?”

“Thanks Janet. I love you.” He said and he placed his paw over her’s in reply. Suddenly his eyes widened as he remembered something. “Oh Dr. Hawthorne!” he said releasing his hold on his mate and looking towards the other wolf in the room. “I remembered something while I was at work...it’s why I was a bit late tonight, Janet. I had to stop off at the apartment.” He once again smiled guiltily, as he moved to open the backpack he had brought with him.

“I thought about Dr. Cerval asking about mom and dad, and I remembered this.” He said as he removed a plastic bag from the pack. To Dave’s eyes it appeared to contain an old silver brush...and old silver grooming brush. Dave’s eyes widened both in surprise and understanding.

Tommy handed over the brush, but Dave could see the hesitation in the other mammal’s expression. “This was my mom’s. It’s all I have left of her.” He looked uncomfortable at the notion, and he seemed slightly embarrassed. “I kept it to remember her smell.” he said quietly.

Dave nodded in understanding. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of Tommy. I’ve got a couple of things from my mom and dad at home as well for the very same reason.”

He wasn’t immune to grief any more than another mammal, and for canines, smell was one of the strongest memory triggers there was. The scent of an old shirt, or family quilt brought back decades of memories. “It makes it seem like they’re really in the room with us doesn’t it?” Dave asked, the tone of his voice telling the Rey’s that he knew exactly why Tommy kept the heirloom.

Tommy smiled at his words, but then his expression became clouded once again. “I know dad had one too, but I could never find it after mom died.” He paused, and both Dave and Janet could smell the wave of sadness come off of him. “I always thought she took it with her when she went to...to join him.”

Janet immediately reached over and embraced her mate, and Dave had a good idea what had happened. It was uncommon, but not unheard of for mammals with a strong pair bond to simply give up when their mate died. The fact that Tommy had been an adult when it happened probably had meant that the normal parental bond might not have been enough to drag his mother back from the abyss. The official cause of death was listed as accidental, and Dave hadn’t looked into it further as a result. Now however, he had a much better idea as to what had happened, and the significance of the brush made all the more important as a result.

Reaching out a comforting paw, he grasped Tommy’s shoulder. “Thank you, Tommy. This is more than enough for us to work with.” He heard the fox sniffle quietly, but as Tommy looked up at him with a pained expression, he could see that his words had provided some support. “All I need are a few tufts of fur, and then I can give this right back to you.”

He went over to the one of the cabinets at the side of the room and retrieved a sample bag and a pair of forceps. As he made his way back to the par, he saw that Janet was gently stroking behind Tommy’s ears with her free paw, as the fox rested against her other arm.

He didn’t want to disturb the pair, but he did need some more information. “Tommy,” he said quietly, and the fox’s eyes opened and focused on him. Sighing slightly, he moved to sit back up and regard the physician more closely. “I just need to be sure that your mom was the only one to use this? No one else?”

Tommy nodded in reply. “Mom and dad were very strict about not sharing brushes.” Once again Tommy looked a bit embarrassed. “When I was a pup...I got fleas once.”

Janet laughed at the memory. “You got those from me, Tommy...and I blame Cindy Dresden for giving them to me in the first place.” She added, not looking ashamed in the slightest.

Dave raised up his paw, a slightly guilty expression on his face. “I blame my sister for bringing them home once when I was a pup.” He said, as the memory prompted a psychosomatic itch all across his skin. Shaking himself to try and banish the momentary discomfort, he looked back at the pair. “It’s just something that happens, Tommy. Nothing to worry about. I just need to be sure that this fur belongs to your mother. In a way, thanks to your condition, we know that anything in your DNA that doesn’t match up with this,” he picked up the bag containing the brush with a flourish, and using the forceps began to pick out strands and tufts of fur, placing them into the sample bag, “must have come from your father.”

He looked at Tommy with a real smile on his muzzle. “This will really help us understand how to better help your pup, Tommy. I can’t tell you how glad I am that you remembered this.”

“I’m happy it will help, Dr. Hawthorne.” He looked up at Janet’s face and he took a deep breath, taking in her scent. “I want to help, but I just don’t know how.”

“You helped today, Tommy.” Dave said while sealing up the bag. “You really did.”

Dave stood, and offered his paw to each of the Rey’s. “I’ll leave you two for now, but I’ll stop in again before I leave just to make sure you don’t have any questions.”

After shaking each of their paws in turn, Dave remembered one final note that Jim had left in their charts. “Oh, just one minor thing; Jim realized that you prefer to sleep together in the same bed...which can’t be too easy given the size of the standard beds here.” He motioned over to the two beds in the room, one of which had gone unused for two nights. “Dr. Cerval will be bringing one of the large mammal beds in tonight. It will be a bit more effort to get into, but it’s closer to what a King size bed is for mammals of our size.”

Both Rey’s laughed at the comment, and Janet looked somewhat relieved. “Thank you Doctor. I’m not letting Tommy out of my paws if I can help it...buuut things were getting a bit cramped there.”

“It’s no problem, and this isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with couples who would prefer to remain close.” Dave checked his watch and saw that it was just past five in the afternoon. “Your real dinners should be arriving in about an hour, so you might want to eat that soon Tommy.” He said, motioning to the untouched sandwich.

Tommy smiled and took up one half of the sandwich, offering the other half to Janet. “Did you want some?” He asked, and Janet shook her head.

“I already had two whole ones, but don’t feel like you need to eat it all.” She looked at the sandwich with only a small amount of hunger in her eyes. “I’m sure I’ll be able to polish it off later tonight.”

Dave chuckled at the two, and made to exit the room. Calling back over his shoulder, he repeated Sara’s earlier admonishment, “Just remember, if you get hungry, buzz the nurse’s station. We have plenty of snacks on paw, and the last thing we want is a hungry wolf prowling the floors.”

With the sounds of laughter behind him, Dave waited until he had left the room, and the passive range of the Rey’s sharp hearing, before he started sprinting towards the stairs, his free paw fumbling for his keycard as he went. Looking at the bag in his paws, his thoughts were focused on one task, and one task only.

_“I need to get these to the lab, NOW!”_

* * *

 

After racing to the basement, and entering into the airlock, he grabbed an empty container from the stack by the decontamination tray and placed the sample bag inside before sealing and submerging it in the fluid, and quickly pushing it through into the lab proper. He pressed the intercom button, and looked through the observation window, trying to get someone’s attention.

“Laura! Arnold! Abby! Anyone!” He called out, not even trying to keep the urgency out of his voice.

He noticed movement to the right, and he let out a relieved breath as Laura appeared from behind the lab benches. The ferrett, obviously recognizing that something important was happening, dashed over to the window, and hopped up on the nearby step so that she was able to reach the intercom.

“What’s happened Dave!” She said, a note of worry echoing in her voice.

Dave motioned to the sample now accessible from Laura’s side of the airlock. “Tommy just came back, and he brought his mother’s grooming brush with him.”

Laura’s eyes immediately widened in understanding, and her head whipped to the left. “ARNOLD! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW!” She screamed. Looking back to Dave, he could see that there was real excitement in her eyes. “You get scrubbed in. We’ll get this started.”

Not waiting for a reply, Laura grabbed the container from the decontamination bath, and quickly made her way back to Arnold’s bench. Dave Just had enough time to see the hippo enter into his field of view, when Laura made a very recognizable motion for _‘Come Here Now!’_ with her free paw.

Smiling at Laura’s enthusiasm...and somewhat concerned for Arnold’s wellbeing Dave rushed to get out of his scrubs, and prepared to enter the lab. Throughout it all, that tiny ember of hope he held inside him grew slightly brighter.

 _“Maybe we will figure this out in time.”_ A hesitant voice said inside him, and he smiled as he stepped into the shower. Hope was a dangerous thing to have at the Honeywell Centre, but for once, Dave allowed the emotion free rein as another thought filtered through his consciousness.

_“The real work is just getting started!”_

* * *

 

**End Notes:**

Due to the time issue, this is going to be a fairly short set of endnotes, and my comments regarding the probable adaptations that would have occurred in Zootopia will have to happen in the next chapter. Once again, I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter done, and I’ll try to cut down on the time between them in the future.

For now however, I’ll move things into **Science Time!**

 **Sequencing Libraries:** Although I’ve gone over some aspects of DNA sequencing, I thought I should clear up what exactly I mean by libraries as they relate to molecular biology. Put simply, a library is a collection of the total genomic DNA from a single organism. These libraries can take many forms, ranging from free DNA in an Eppendorf tube (I have one sitting on ice by by my bench as I type), to a collection of individual DNA fragments that have been attached (ligated) to a piece of bacterial DNA, which can then be grown in _E. coli_ or other bacterial species (BAC: Bacterial Artificial Chromosome library).

For sequencing purposes, these libraries need to be prepared in specific ways depending on the sequencing platform that’s being used. The key element of the library prep is the degree to which the DNA is fragmented, either by digestion with an enzyme that cuts DNA at specific sequences (restriction endonucleases), or through mechanical methods (abuse the DNA by knocking it around to break it apart).

Inside the cell, the DNA in most eukaryotes (plants, fungi, animals), each chromosome is very large, on the order of millions of base pairs to hundreds of millions of base pairs (common wheat has an AVERAGE chromosome length of 806Mbp). As most sequencing platforms only sequence comparatively small regions of the genome (as little as 36bp to as much as 100,000bp), and start from the ends of the DNA molecule, if you didn’t break the strand into chunks, you’d only get data from the ends of each chromosome...and those are pretty well useless from a gene content point of view.

This is where the different kinds of libraries come into play. I mentioned these back in chapter 3 I think, but I’ll rehash some of the details. The easiest type of library to make is what’s called a shotgun library. This is where you just take the DNA and break it into pieces using any method. You don’t care what the sizes are, you just want to DNA to be broken up enough that, when you sequence it, you can get all the genome covered.

The advantage to this is that it’s quick and easy to do, with fewer quality requirements. The disadvantage is that you don’t know the size of any particular fragment, so when you sequence from both ends, you don’t know how much space separates these fragments. When you want to put the pieces together, knowing this can be a huge advantage. I mentioned in a previous chapter how assembling a genome is like putting together a puzzle using billions of pieces. Knowing how far apart two fragments are is like knowing that two pieces fit together.

To do this kind of work, what’s needed are size selected libraries. As the name implies, these are composed of fragments of DNA that have been broken up just like in the shotgun libraries, but you only use a small fraction of it. Prior to sequencing, you separate out all the chunks of DNA using a process called electrophoresis (basically using electricity to force the DNA through a kind of gel), then you cut out the fragments that fall within a very narrow range.

In this chapter, I had Arnold preparing a new library for when the sequencer arrives at the Centre. There are two reasons for this. The first is that after the library is prepped, you usually have to attach additional fragments of DNA to the ends of the pieces. These are called adapters or barcodes. Adapters are small chunks of DNA that are needed by the sequencer for the machine to do its work. Barcodes are also small chunks of DNA, but their purpose is to allow the user to separate out multiple samples from a single reaction.

Since something like a HiSeq (BGSeq in this story) can generate a trillion base pairs of sequence in a single run, it’s completely overkill to use this on a single sample. By barcoding your samples lets you combine together a bunch of them into a single run. For instance, Tommy’s DNA library would have each fragment barcoded with the sequence GTCAGTGTGCTGACATG, while Janet’s barcoded with TTCATGGTTGCTATCAG. Once the sequenceing is done, you can separate out each mammals fragments using those barcodes.

The second reason for the new library is the size of the molecules used. Since the technology behind short read sequencers is based on sequencing billions of short chunks of DNA, the libraries are usually made up of fragments <15,000 base pairs in length, with larger fragments not providing any real benefit. For long read sequencers, you NEED for the fragments to be big. We call these libraries high molecular weight DNA, and what you want are fragments that range from 50,000 to over a megabase (1 million bp).

It should be noted that working with DNA fragments this large is a challenge, as the DNA strand tends to break if subjected to too much force. Even the simple act of pipetting will usually cause the DNA to shear at around 30,000bp, so care and special techniques must be used.

 **Protein Sequencing:** Protein sequencing is a bit more complicated than DNA sequencing. The main reason is that protein sequencing is invariably destructive in nature. As opposed to DNA sequencing, which can be done as the DNA strand is elongating, protein sequencing generally takes the form of first taking the protein apart, by unfolding the peptides, breaking the disulfide bonds, and rendering it down into individual peptide chains. As many proteins are composed of multiple peptide chains or subunits, each of these has to be isolated and sequenced independently.

From there, most methods either enzymatically or physically remove one or more amino acids from the peptide chains and then use either chromatography or mass spectrometry to identify the amino acid in question. This process then repeats until you’ve sequenced the entire strand. This process is far more error prone than DNA sequencing, and _de novo_ protein sequencing is nowhere near as common as it is for DNA.

Things get even more complicated by the fact that the amino acid sequence doesn’t actually tell us a whole lot about the function. Since how proteins work is very much determined by the ways in which they’re folded, and what they interact with in the cell, the primary sequence (the amino acids) can only give us hints as to how it all fits together.

 **Diets in Zootopia:** Anyone who’s owned an exotic pet can attest to the fact that they can have very particular requirements with regards to the kinds and variety of foods that they should eat. Comparing the diets of wolves and red foxes, foxes tend to require higher levels of protein in their diet, and also need to acquire amino acids like taurine through their diet, as their bodies are incapable of producing it on their own.

Tailoring diets to the individual needs of the various species in Zootopia would be a major concern for its citizens. The visible use of prepared and prepackaged food in the film implies a level of standardization in terms of preparation, but this would then need to be supplemented by additional foodstuffs or through purchased products (protein powder, vitamins and the like). The best alternative is for each species to prepare their own food, tailored to the requirements of their physiology, but in a modern society, this can be a challenge.

Additionally, the presence of species specific food items would also be very much based on the population size, as well as social demographics. Quite simply, if there aren’t many members of a species in a given region, or that species is considered to be part of an lower, undesirable demographic, the presence of food tailored to their needs would be much reduced. For something like foxes, they might be forced to make use of foods more tailored to felines or other Canids than something just for them.  

As was touched upon in this chapter, and confirmed through some tweets from the creators of Zootopia, some carnivorous species do choose to adopt a vegetarian diet in Zootopia, Nick being one example of this. This isn't something that would be entirely easy to manage, as the digestive tracts of most predators are simply not optimized to break down rough plant matter. In obligate herbivores, there are a range of evolutionary adaptations that are specifically there to allow them to break down long carbohydrates in the form of cellulose and hemicellulose, which make up a sizable proportion of the carbohydrates in plants. Carnivores universally lack the enzymes to accomplish this, and as such, would need to rely on either larger volumes of plant matter, or heavily processed foodstuffs. In addition to this, supplementation would be an absolute necessity for some species, particularly felines, foxes, and mustelides. For them, a vegetarian diet would be extremely detrimental to their health unless they included algae into their meals.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’ll cut things off there, and wrap up this chapter. It was way too long in coming, but at least it arrived eventually. 
> 
> My thanks to everyone who has made it this far, and as always, please keep sending me your questions, comments and reviews. As evidenced by my delay in getting this chapter out, I do take the time to respond to as many requests for help as I can. You can blame WildeNick for giving Bogo a brother, as originally, I had named him Captain Jack Wallace. We’ll see if I regret caving in down the road.
> 
> As a final note, if there is a particular topic you’d like to see me cover during Science Time or in my various rambling musings, please let me know. I reserve the right to veto any topic, but I can at least try to cover topics that interest you.
> 
> All the best,
> 
> eng050599


	12. Chapter 12: Restraint and Resistance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone, and once again it took me a month to get this chapter out the door, but I hope that you'll enjoy the real chapter 12 to Lost Causes and Broken Dreams.
> 
> It has been a busy month all around, and I even started a new side project, aptly named Side Stories. It can be found on both FanFiction and AO3, and will contain various ancillary stories in the LC&BD universe, as well as any stand alone one-shots that I come up with. It probably won't be updated too frequently, as my focus is on finishing Lost Causes, but it gives me the option to include stuff there that would otherwise be missed.
> 
> For those who are interested, it currently includes two chapters. The first is the guest chapter that I wrote for WildeNick's Three Months a Fox. It delves into the response of the medical community to the Nighthowler crisis, and follows one surgeon as he tries to deal with the injured mammals, as well as the increasing pre/prey hostilities.
> 
> The second was Choices and Chance, my contribution to the second Zootopia Anthology, and was previously posted as chapter 12 of LC&BD. I actually wrote a happy story for once, as we look back on the Fangwells and their time at the Centre bringing Lucas into the world.
> 
> As always, my thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this story, and my particular thanks go out to those who have commented on the work so far.
> 
> From Fanfiction:
> 
> jamdea: Fortunately this chapter wasn't under a word limit, so It's back up to the length of most of my chapters.
> 
> Chorpion: Glad to read that you enjoyed learning about Lucas' journey. Hope the move goes smoothly.
> 
> KOakaKO: ...even my happy chapters can bring out tears. I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter, and I think that this one won't have any tears for a change.
> 
> FireMaster1: I hope that I was able to answer your questions, and good luck on the next chapter of your fic.
> 
> Monicav29: Hopefully you're enjoying the rest of the story to date. It can be a bit of a rough ride, but so far I'm pleased with how things have worked out.
> 
> From AO3:
> 
> WildeHopps: It was a nice change to craft a more uplifting tale, and I'm glad that the emotions and characters were believable.
> 
> WolfGuardMiestwin: The Elder Scrolls question was certainly a bit different, but I hope that my answer made sense.
> 
> CAPTAINPRICE79: I'm glad that the story arrived when you needed it. This chapter is another departure from the normal despair of the story, so hopefully no tears this time around.
> 
> webkilla: Glad you're enjoying the story so far. So far it's been compared to ER and House, so I'll take it as a good sign.
> 
> Finally, thanks again to WildeNick for editing this chapter. Show him some appreciation, and give his stories Good Cops Like You and Three Months a Fox a go.
> 
> Without further adieu, I give you Chapter 12 of Lost Causes and Broken Dreams.

* * *

**C** **hapter 12: Restraint and Resistance**

By the time Dave had entered the lab proper, the entire cadre of lab mammals were clustered around Arnold's sizable form. It was nearly impossible for him to make out one conversation from the other as everyone jockeyed for access to the samples. As he approached, the group, his sensitive ears began to pick apart the various conversations.

"Arnold, I need at least 10 follicles if I'm going to have a chance of building a karyotype." Elizabeth piped in from her perch on Abby's shoulder.

"These cells are a decade old, Beth, the odds of having any of the chromosomes intact is going to be slim." Pipped in Laura from beside the hippo as she maneuvered a pipette to add some extraction buffer to the small tube in her paw.

The ferret looked over to where Jason was peering through a microscope at what, Dave assumed were, some of the fur samples. "How do they look, Jason? Is there any chance of being able to culture them."

Sighing slightly, Jason looked up from his bench and shook his head. "I don't think so. All the tissue has just been naturally desiccated. It's well preserved, but unfortunately the cells are probably all non-viable." The deer shrugged his shoulders before returning his gaze to the microscope. "Even if they had been cryopreserved, a decade is a long time. I'll just take two of the follicles, and see if I can revive any of them, but our priority should be on isolating the DNA for sequencing."

"If I can find even one cell where the chromatin have condensed, it will speed up everything that we're doing to map out the recombinations!" Beth protested, and Dave could see where she was coming from. Right now she, Genevieve and Abby were trying to put together a puzzle where the pieces came from, what was effectively three completely different boxes, with no pictures to guide them. Having an idea of what Tommy's mother's chromatin looked like would make it easier to tease apart which portions came from her, and which came from his father.

"This whole endeavor is a long shot." The mouse continued. "The odds are that we won't be able to get the full sequence from the DNA, given its age, and yes the odds of finding a cell with intact chromatin is vanishingly small, but it's all we have to go on." She looked over her shoulder towards Dave. "Is there any chance that we can get any more of her fur to sample?"

Making his way over to the group, Dave shook his head. "We could, but I'd prefer that we not have to. The brush has a great deal of sentimental value for Mr. Rey, and pretty well all of that comes from the scent of his mother. Without the fur, the brush will lose that pretty quickly." He paused briefly, and saw the looks that Abby and Genevieve shared with him. "It's all he has left of his mother, and I don't want to take that away unless we have to."

Elizabeth looked as if she was about to protest when Genevieve held up her paw at and shook her head at the mouse. "Beth, please trust me. We _can't_ take that away from him if we can help it. Those memories are something precious for him...for us." She motioned towards her fellow canids in the room. "Let's see what we can do with the sample that we have. If we need to, then we can go back for more."

"Just so you know, Genevieve, mustelids are the same way when it comes to scent triggers, but I might have a compromise." Laura piped in from the bench. "The only tissue that we need is the follicle itself. The fur doesn't have any meaningful DNA content, so we could cut off the roots, and return the fur to the brush." Looking down at the remaining sample, she sighed and reached over to grab a scalpel along with a pair of forceps. "In fact we should probably do that for the sample that we have now."

Looking over her shoulder at the assembled mammals, she motioned for the others to take some of the sample. "Well get to it! I'm not going to do this all by myself, and someone call Cat and ask her to collect about half the remaining fur from the brush. We'll process that, and see if we need more from there. We'll make sure that Tommy gets as much of his mother's scent back as we can."

There was a round of chuckles, as the various mammals each took some of the fur sample to their various benches to begin removing the microscopic follicles from the rest of the hair shaft. Only Donny made no move to take a part of the sample.

"I'll call Catherine." The bison said while waving his hooves at the rest of the group. "My hooves aren't made to handle fine work like this."

Jason snorted in amusement, as he looked over at the larger ungulate. "You're giving hooved mammals a bad name, Donny" He said as he collected his share of the fur sample. "This is child's play, even for us." The deer made his way over to his bench, muttering under his breath as he went. "Although I don't see the point in coddling some simpleton, and wasting our time for something so frivolous."

Whether intentional or not, his voice was loud enough for the comment to be heard by at least the members of the lab with acute hearing, and the effect was instantaneous. The friendly banter that had begun when the various mammals had collected their portion of the fur ceased, and the group fell silent except for a low growl that reverberated through the room.

Dave was surprised that it wasn't emanating from his throat, and he looked over to where Abby was staring daggers at Jason's back. Even though they were covered by her protective hood, he could see that her ears were pinned back against her skull. There was no mistaking the anger in her expression, and Dave could practically see the snarl that was present under her muzzle mask.

Jason stopped in his tracks at the sounds of the she-wolf's growl, and he slowly turned around. His gaze first sought out Dave, and there was real fear in his eyes. This was replaced by surprise however, when he realized that the older wolf was not the source of the sound. Looking towards Abby, his eyes hardened when he realized that she was the one growling.

He didn't look away from the wolf when he spoke, but his words were directed at another mammal. "Donny, would you put a muzzle on your student. She seems to have forgotten her position in the lab."

The bison gave an unmistakable snort of anger at Jason's words, but reached out a hoof and placed it on Abby's shoulder. "Jason, the only one here giving hooved mammals a bad name is you." His voice was almost dripping with condescension towards the deer. As he looked down at Abby, his voice softened. "Let it go, Abby. He's not worth it."

"Donny's right, Abby." Elizabeth said from her perch on the wolf's shoulder, her paw reaching out to touch the side of Abby's throat. "Let the rest of us handle this."

Laura gave a sigh of exasperation, and threw up her paws. "Enough of this shit!" The ferret said and looked over at her colleagues. "Donny, Dave, Genevieve, Beth, and _YOU_ ," she said, pointing a digit directly at Jason, "conference room, _now_!" There was no mistaking that her refusal to even use Jason's name was a calculated insult, but everyone in the room also knew that the ferret was primed to explode at this moment.

Laura hopped down from her step, and made a beeline towards the small conference room in the back of the lab. Jason, seeing the anger in her eyes, made to back away from the diminutive cardiologist, only to be forcibly turned around and pushed towards the room by the ferret as she passed. Given the size disparity between the two, it seemed incongruous that Laura could move a mammal as large as Jason, but anger brought with it strength...and right now, Laura was furious.

Shaking his head at the display, Dave walked over to Abby and offered his paw to Elizabeth, who hopped on after patting the young wolf's neck in support. After lifting the mouse onto his shoulder, he reached out and gave Abby's shoulder a squeeze. "Thanks, Abby. You just expressed what everyone here feels. Look at the bright side, he certainly took notice of you this time."

Abby gave a snort of laughter and then shook her head and looked over to Dave. "Thanks. I'll get started isolating the follicles. Do me a favor, Dave? Nail his hide to the wall." She said before looking over to the two lab techs. "Arnold, Francis, let's get these samples prepped."

Dave heard a chuckle from his shoulder, and glanced down at Beth out of the corner of his eye. "I don't think there's going to be any shortage of volunteers for that task. This has been a long time coming." Reaching out a paw to steady herself on her perch, she motioned with her free paw for Dave to move. "Come on, Dave. We don't want to miss the fireworks. Laura's going to blow a gasket, and you know it's going to be good."

Dave laughed but also had a feeling of dread come over him. He knew that he could well be on the receiving end of some of Laura's fury. He had set the tone for this whole situation when he had originally confronted Jason. At any other time, Jason's words would have been nothing more than a minor annoyance for everyone, and he knew that this was something that had been building for quite some time. Now that he'd inadvertently given them an example of how a pack leader would deal with it, it might not take much longer for things to finally explode.

Making their way to the conference room, Dave and Elizabeth were the last ones to enter. Seeing how everyone had remained standing, he made no move towards the hard plastic chairs, but looked over at Beth to see if she wanted to stand on the table rather than his shoulder.

The mouse waved her paw dismissively and whispered a reply. "I'm good up here, Dave."

Jason looked around the room, and made to speak, only to be forestalled by Laura's raised paw.

"SHUT IT! Not one word, Jason. Not, one, fucking, word!" She said, the anger and frustration plainly evident in her voice. "This ends now! For _everyone_!" She looked over to Donny once she was certain the deer would remain silent. "Donny, you're on the board, so you're the senior representative here. Do you want to handle this?"

The bison shook his head and the low rumble of his chuckle reverberated through the room. "Oh, I think you can handle this quite well on your own, Laura, and I'd be foolish to get between you and your prey."

There were a few laughs from the assembled mammals, but it did nothing to ease the tension in the room. Dave's nose twitched under his muzzle mask, and the mixed acrid scents of fear and anger permeated the room.

Laura crossed her arms over her chest, and focused her gaze on Jason. "Jason, you're a pompous ass, a borderline sociopath, and in case you haven't figured it out yet, on _very_ thin ice here. Doug, Donnie, the board, and I, have already decided that you won't be returning to clinical duties, _ever_!" The ferret paused as Jason's eyes widened at the proclamation. "Doug was going to have a meeting with you on Monday in private, but you had to go and light another fucking fire with your mouth, so you get to hear it from me."

Dave could see Jason's eyes harden in response, but Laura was nowhere near done. "Your ethical lapse has made it that none of us can trust you with _any_ patient. Do you not get that?" She motioned with her paw towards where Dave was standing. "You're just lucky that it was Dave's patient that you assaulted. Oh, and 'assault' is what the legal team is calling it by the way; he just settled for trying to put you through a wall. I would have ripped off your fucking balls and rammed them down your throat if Ms. Woodman had been my patient."

The visible portions of Jason's skin paled at the threat. Looking around the room Dave could see that Genevieve was staring at the deer with a truly predatory focus, and the beginnings of a snarl was on her muzzle. Even Donnie and Beth didn't flinch at the vehemence of Laura's words, or the threat they contained.

Jason looked around the room, his eyes searching and seeing no support for him on their faces, he stepped backwards until his back rested against the wall, trying to create as much space between him and the ferret as he could. Dave imagined that his flight response was probably drowning him at this point, but he'd backed himself into this corner, and was now going to have to live with the consequences.

"If it were my decision, you'd have been tossed out on your ass Monday when this shit show started, but we still needed you in case things went south upstairs." Laura paused, and even without being able to see it, Dave knew that her trademark smirk was present on her muzzle. "That's no longer the case. At least it won't be in three months. We've already hired a new OBGYN, and that means that we don't need to risk you having _any_ access to patients."

Jason visibly deflated at Laura's words, and his head hung in defeat. Dave knew that the staffing issues that plagued the Centre was the only leverage he had for keeping his job. He had no friends here, and his research was quite literally the only thing he showed any passion for. The Centre still desperately needed to find more mammals to continue their work, but once Melissa arrived, they wouldn't be any worse off than they already were if they cut Jason loose.

" _As far as I'm concerned, another Doctor Wilson was worth more than a dozen Doctor Kents."_ He thought to himself, feeling no small pleasure at the cervid's distress.

Jason gave a sigh before looking back at Laura. "So what happens now?" He asked dejectedly.

Laura considered the situation for a moment before replying. "Right now, the Rey's are the only reason why I don't kick your ass out the airlock and send you packing this instant. If you want to have any chance of keeping your research position here, make them your one and only priority from now until they walk out of here with a healthy pup. No more snide remarks, no more insults; all that I want to hear from you is your professional opinion, and if you do have something to say, say it. Their physical and mental health is all that matters now, and shit like this does not help things."

Laura sighed and rubbed her hooded forehead in frustration. "Even though I still want to tear out your throat, and it pains me to say this, but I have to admit that you are a good researcher. On the other paw, you're a fucking terrible physician, and an even worse mammal. I don't know why you went into medicine, and frankly I don't give a shit. This is your last chance here, Jason. Focus on what you're good at, but check your pretentious ego at the door." She looked around the room at the assembled mammals. "I'm done. Did anyone else want to say anything."

Donnie shook his head. "No Laura, you covered the boards stance on the matter...albeit a bit more colorfully than we had planned. We came to the same conclusion when we decided to offer Dave and Jim the professorships on Tuesday." Looking over to Jason, Donnie gave an angry snort at the deer. "Laura has the boards complete backing on this. This _is_ your last chance, Dr. Kent. Mr. Dray was very clear that legally, we can no longer allow you to have contact with patients. Put bluntly, you have become a liability, and only your skills as a scientist can keep you here. Your personality has been toxic from the start, but you were never stupid enough to cross any major ethical barriers before now." Donnie shook his head, and started to leave the room. "I have no idea what's going on in your head, and I don't think I want to. But one more mistake, and you'll be fired on the spot."

Just as he was about to leave the room, Donnie raised a single digit, as if he had just remembered something. Looking back over his shoulder, Donnie had a malicious twinkle in his eyes the belied the seriousness of the matter at paw. "Oh, since you'll no longer be acting as a physician here, the matter of your salary will probably need to be renegotiated. Doug will be making the final call, of course, but Mr. Dray thought a thirty percent cut was warranted. And I don't think today's actions will win you any points when bonuses are calculated."

The bison next pointed back towards the lab proper, and motioned for the scientists to disperse. "Now everyone, let's get back to work!"

Laura made to leave the room immediately, but Genevieve remained where she was. Jason looked down at the fox, and although the deer looked completely drained, Dave could picture the scowl on his muzzle under the mask he wore. His curiosity being piqued, Dave leaned back against a nearby wall and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What?" Jason yelled with an abrupt nervousness to the three remaining mammals, throwing his arms out to his sides in frustration.

Genevieve cocked her head to the side, in that oh so instinctive canine expression of curiosity. "Laura might not care about your reasons, but I am curious; why did you go into medicine? It's pretty obvious that the usual _'I want to help my fellow mammals'_ motivations didn't factor into it, so why?"

"Why do you care?" Jason asked, not even attempting to keep the disdain out of his voice. Looking over to Dave, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the larger wolf. "And you, what do you want? Looking to hit me again?"

Dave laughed at the comment and shook his head, but Genevieve shot him a glare, while at the same time, Beth pinched the flesh of his neck roughly. The message was clear, and he dipped his head in contrition.

The fox looked back to Jason, and sighed before speaking. "That's the gist of it, Jason. I don't care, none of us do. You've been here for eight years, yet you've made no effort to become part of the group. You're always off on your own pet projects, and nine times out of ten, you take any request for help as a personal affront unless it piques your interest." She shook her head before shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe I'm being naive, but I want to find a reason _to_ care. Like Laura said, you're a good, maybe even a great scientist, but as a mammal, you're...well creepy."

Jason cocked an eyebrow in confusion, and gave a snort of derision. "I'm not here to make friends. While you prattle on with each other, I'm trying to actually discover what's gone wrong, and unlock a way to fix it!" The deer shook his head before continuing. "I got into medicine because mammalian biology is filled with questions that need to be answered, and that's what drives me. That I get to help some of them is just a beneficial aside, but no, for me, the search for answers is the key."

Genevieve took a step back at Jason's words, shaking her head in confusion. "Jason, that 'prattle' is called collaboration. You know what that is, right? We all work together towards a common goal...like what we were doing before you went and ran your mouth off." The fox cocked her head to the side. "How on Earth did you even make it past the interview for med school? Your...social issues stick out like a sore thumb."

Jason gave a bleat of laughter as a reply. "What interview? I had a unweighted 4.0GPA and two Nature papers before I even finished my undergrad. I had schools _begging_ me to enroll." He shook his head and Dave could tell that he was smiling under his muzzle. "There was no interview. I got a full scholarship, and as long as I kept publishing, nobody gave a damn about my 'social issues'." He said while making quotation marks with his hooves for the final two words. "Once again, I wasn't there to make friends; just to learn a new set of skills."

Dave cocked his head to the side. "You could have just gone with a PhD and kept yourself in the lab. Why go through the extra work? For as long as I've known you, the clinical stuff has just been a chore for you, and you spend most of your time down here unless you were the only physician on call...and even then we all knew you resented it." He was surprised at how calm his voice sounded. This was the most Jason had ever talked about his past, and his anger, while still present, was taking a back seat to curiosity.

Jason looked at Dave with derision plainly visible in his gaze. "When someone offers you a free ride for a medical degree, would you say no? The DVM opens up research opportunities, as well as a better earning potential." The deer shrugged, and gestured towards Dave "Why did you do a double residency?"

Dave didn't hesitate before replying. "So I could better help my patients, which should be the motivation for any doctor. Being an OBGYN means I help mammals bring new life into this world, and the surgical training gives me a better chance of being able to help them if they need it." Dave shook his head at Jason and sighed sadly. "Not everyone spends their days only thinking about themselves, Jason."

Jason snorted in amusement, and rolled his eyes at Dave. "Of course, I should have expected that. You're always the fucking Ranger Scout, aren't you? Spirits, it almost makes me sick how sanctimonious you can be. You might get more real work done down here if you spent less time crying in a closet."

Dave's ears instantly pinned back under his hood, and he just barely managed to stop a growl from escaping his throat. _"Is he purposely baiting me, or is he just an idiot?"_ He thought to himself, and the lunacy of Jason's words helped to push his anger further down. A brief touch at the side of his neck was as sure a sign of support as he could get, and he looked over to the mouse on his shoulder.

Beth chose that moment to speak up. ""Laura and Donnie are right, Jason. You got into medicine for the all the wrong reasons, and thank the spirits you won't be treating patients anymore."

Genevieve shook her head at the deer, and Dave actually saw pity in her eyes. "You really don't get it, do you, Jason? Every mammal here has needed to use the quiet room, or just find somewhere private when things get bad." She paused and lifted a paw towards Jason. "Every mammal except for you that is. You're the oddity, not Dave. The fact that you don't care isn't a strength, Jason, and the fact that it may very well end up costing you your career should tell you something."

The fox shrugged and turned to leave. Dave reached out a paw, and rested it on her shoulder while offering his other paw for Beth to jump on. "Thanks, Beth, Genevieve; I just need a minute with Jason."

"Don't do anything stupid, Dave." Beth cautioned as she stepped onto his paw.

Dave gave a slight chuckle as he brought the mouse down to Genevieve's shoulder. "Don't worry, I promise that we'll both leave here intact."

Genevieve gave a short bark of laughter at Dave's promise. "You don't need to go that far. These floors can be slippery with this footwear." She said motioning to the protective hindpaw coverings that they all wore, and dave shook his head at the implication.

"Tempting, but no." Was all he said, in reply, and she sighed dramatically before heading back into the lab proper.

"Now what? If you're not going to beat me, what do you want?" Jason asked, making no move to come any closer to Dave.

Dave locked his eyes with Jason for a moment, but then sighed and rubbed his forehead with his paw. "Laura's right, Jason. This needs to end, for everyone." He paused and looked back to Jason. "I'm not going to apologize for Monday, and I meant everything that I said. If you ever harm one of my patients again, there will be a reckoning between us. As a mammal, I have no respect for you, but as a scientist, you're good, and I need those skills to help the Rey's. I can't have you skittering away in fear whenever I come within 50 feet of you, and if you do discover something that can help Janet and Tommy, I need you to tell me right away."

Jason snorted and shook his head. "I've never ' _skittered_ " away from you, and I'm not afraid of you, Dave. You're too much of a Ranger Scout to ever follow through with your threats. I should have realized that on Monday."

Dave smiled under his muzzle mask, and tapped the side of his nose with one digit before leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. "Your scent says otherwise, and trust me, I'm willing to sacrifice almost anything to protect my patients. You're also right that, in many ways, I do play the Ranger Scout. It's the way I was raised, and the way I _want_ to live my life. It also means that my word means something, and I give you my word that I will not harm a single fur on your hide unless you do harm, or try to harm, another mammal here."

Jason's eyes narrowed, but he seemed to relax slightly. There was still suspicion in his gaze, and the scent of fear and anger were still pouring off of him in waves, but Dave could see that his words were being considered at least.

"So what, we shake and call it even?" Jason said, snorting in derision.

Dave shook his head. "No chance. I gave you my word that I wouldn't hurt you, but I still very much _want_ to knock out more than a few of your teeth right now. Call it a truce, if nothing else, and make the Rey's your only concern, unless something more critical comes in of course. You said you like answering questions, well the Rey's and their pup are probably the biggest ones to ever come through our doors."

Jason gave a short chuckle. "Fat chance something more critical coming along, and they are truly a puzzle, aren't they?" The deer stared off into the distance, and Dave was somewhat surprised at how quickly Jason's attitude had changed. When Jason again spoke, his words were hesitant. "For the life of me I can't help but feel like…" he trailed off, and Dave was struck by how similar Jason's words were to Jim's from the previous day.

"...we're missing something." Dave said, and Jason's eyes snapped back into focus. Dave cocked his head in curiosity. "Jim said the same thing yesterday, and I'm not willing to write anything off as coincidence with these mammals. Any inkling as to what's raised your suspicions?"

Jason shook his head in reply. "No, unfortunately it's just a feeling, and I can't even tell what set it off initially."

Dave sighed and shook his head. "Too many questions, not enough answers." He mumbled to himself, and then he turned to leave the conference room, not bothering to dismiss Jason before turning his back on him. He hoped that the situation with the deer would improve, but he would be lying to himself if part of him didn't want Doctor Kent to step over the line, and provide him an excuse to give into his instincts, and make sure that Jason would never again harm another mammal.

He pushed away the dark thoughts as he made his way back to where Laura and Arnold were continuing to process the fur. Laura glanced up at Dave's approach, and then leaned to the side to look around him, back towards the conference room. _"Probably to make sure that Jason was capable of walking out of the room on his own."_ Dave thought to himself with a small chuckle.

The ferret shook her head and returned her gaze to her dissecting microscope, as she continued to trim the follicles from the fur sample. "You have more control than I do, Dave." She said without looking up. "If I hadn't left when I did, I would have hit that asshole." She paused and looked up at Dave. "Is there going to be a problem?"

"No, I made my position clear, and I guess you can say that there's a kind of truce between the two of us." Dave said and then laughed quietly. "And believe me, the desire to punch him is still front and center in my mind. We need ever paw...well hoof, we have if we're going to help the Rey's, and I knew that my threat was interfering with things, so I promised him that I wouldn't lay a paw on him."

Laura sighed and nodded. "It's good that you did. Doug's been concerned that things were going to get worse between the two of you, but I don't think even he knew that things were so toxic with him." Laura waved a paw towards where Jason was gazing through a dissecting microscope. "That offhand comment was such a tiny thing, but did you see how everyone reacted, myself included?" She shook her head. "Let's just hope that the boil's been lanced, and we can get back to work. On that note," She handed Dave the remaining sample. "Get cracking, Doctor Hawthorne. Cat will be down with more fur shortly, and we need to get this processed ASAP."

Dave chuckled and took the bag from, her outstretched paw. Before he left however, his expression grew thoughtful as he considered Jason's words. "Laura, do you have the feeling that we're missing something obvious here?" He asked, and Laura looked at him strangely.

"What do you mean, Dave?" She asked, curiosity plainly evident in her voice.

Dave shook his head. "It's just something that both Jim and Jason have mentioned, and it's got me worried that there's a puzzle piece that's staring us in the face, but we're not putting it in the right place."

"Nothing about this case is obvious. You know that we're in entirely uncharted waters here, and we've only been exploring for two days now." Dave could see that she was smiling under her muzzle mask. "We _are_ going to figure this out, Dave. I don't know why I'm so sure of it, but I am. Keep looking, and we'll find where that piece goes, and then we'll do it again, and again until we have the full picture in front of us." She shook a digit at him in admonishment. "You're too hard on yourself. We're _all_ together on this, and you know it. Now stop gabbing, and get to work!"

Dave laughed at the dismissal and started to head towards his bench. "Yes ma'am...and Laura, thanks"

Once he was settled, he placed the tuft of fur under the dissecting scope and began teasing it into individual strands. By his estimate, he had several hundred strands to process, and even more would be incoming shortly. Sighing slightly at the time that this would take, he picked up his scalpel, and started removing the follicles, one by one.

* * *

In the end, it had taken less than an hour for all the tissue to be trimmed. With so many paws and hooves working in concert, the task had gone swiftly, and in the end there had been more than enough material for both the DNA extraction, as well as some tissue for Beth to try and find any intact chromatin.

Dave collected the fur from the other lab mammals, and made to head back up into the clinic. He knew that he still needed to call Tess, and then see about spending some time with the Rey's to answer their questions. As the clock in the lab showed that it was almost six, he still had plenty of time before heading over to Carol's salle for whatever surprise she had in store for him.

He was reaching for the airlock door when Abby's voice called out. "Hold on a second, Dave!"

Looking back over his shoulder, Dave saw the she-wolf heading his way after apparently speaking with Donnie. "What's up, Abby? I'm pretty sure you can get the details about Doctor Kent from Beth or Genevieve" He asked, expecting her to be concerned about Jason's state in the lab.

Abby shook her head in reply. "Not about that. Did you have any advice for the committee meeting tomorrow?" She asked, with some trepidation in her voice.

Dave chuckled as he considered the request, his memories going back to when he was in the very same position. "Abby, we're just going to hammer out the topics you'll need to cover. The exam won't happen for at least six weeks, and probably longer." He motioned back towards where Beth and Genevieve were once again comparing Tommy's chromatin to the standard red fox and wolf genomes. "It wouldn't surprise me if this work gives you some additional breathing room, and I know I'll be pushing for at least a minor deferral until we get the situation with the Rey's worked out. They need you here, as opposed to having your snout stuck in some musty old textbook."

He could see that she was smiling at the news. "Do you think so? It would really help if I could have that off my shoulders for now." She said with some excitement. "I mean, the Rey's have been literally all I've been thinking about since we got started...and if it wasn't for Donnie reminding me, I would have missed my own committee meeting tomorrow." She shook her head at the thought. "I'm just not sure what I should do to prepare."

"Just bring a copy of the latest talk you delivered at the last ZMA meeting, and update it with the highlights of what you've done since then...but remember to look at the screen every now and then this time around." He said, and laughed when he saw the skin around her eyes redden in embarrassment.

Abby hung her head at the reminder of her latest conference performance. When she looked back up, Dave could see her pleading with her eyes. "Are you guys ever going to let me live that down?"

Dave shook his head in reply, and his smile grew wider on his muzzle. "Sorry, Abby, but that was one of the most memorable presentations in ZMA history. I'm afraid that you're going to be the talk of the research community until some poor mammal does something even crazier in public." He reached out a paw and placed it on her shoulder when Abby sagged further at his reply. "Don't worry too much about it. In this field, the data is what's important, and you've been generating reams of it. The community recognizes that...but something that funny won't disappear anytime soon."

Abby rolled her eyes at Dave and sighed. "Thanks, Dave. Way to be supportive." She said sarcastically.

Dave laughed and gave her a small shake before releasing her shoulder. "This too shall pass, Abby. Unless I miss my guess, the results of your work with the Rey's will probably net you at least one paper in Cell or Science, and then when you present it at the next ZMA meeting, no one will have any doubts on your abilities." He shrugged and turned back towards the airlock. "As for the committee meeting, just be yourself. You know your stuff like the back of your paw, and everyone knows it."

"Easy for you to say." Abby mumbled under her breath, as she returned to Beth's workstation to continue piecing together the chaos of Tommy's unique genome.

Dave shook his head as he stepped into the airlock. His skin was already itching at the prospect of yet another shower. Days like today were absolute murder on his fur, as this would be his seventh shower, and the shampoo needed for the decontamination protocol did not place a priority on preventing split ends or dry skin. Fortunately, Carol did keep more coat-friendly products at the salle, but this might also be a good excuse for him to treat Carol, and himself, to a spa day in the near future. Although neither of them placed too much emphasis on such things, every now and then, being pampered was a pleasant treat.

He allowed the images of a more relaxing setting fill his thoughts as he stepped into the shower, and once again went about lathering up his fur.

* * *

After dressing in a new pair of scrubs, and donning his lab coat, he headed up to his office. He knew that Tess wouldn't be happy about the delay in getting back to her about her patients. She shared his protective tendencies towards her patients, and that had been part of the reason why they had quickly become friends in med school. They both placed the care of their charges above all else...and the dearth of information would be driving the arctic fox mad.

Once he reached his office, he steeled himself and dialed in her private number from memory. The phone only rang once before he heard the call connect, and he didn't have a chance to speak before Tess' voice came over the line.

"I am this close to strangling you, Dave." Tess said, her irritation abundantly clear from her tone. "It's been two days, and you haven't so much as sent an email. What the hell is happening with Janet and Tommy? Are they okay? Is the pregnancy real?"

Dave sighed and shook his head. "Sorry, Tess. Things have been pretty hectic, both here and at home." He paused before continuing, debating whether to fill Tess in on the details. She was one of the few mammals who knew some of the details about Carol's past, and knew the hell that she had been put through. "I meant to call yesterday, but just dealing with the Rey's kept me swamped at the Centre...and Carol needed me afterwards, Tess. She went through a real rough patch on Tuesday, and needed help putting the pieces back together." He sighed at the painful memory. "Watterman found a way to hurt her even from beyond the grave."

"He's dead? Good." She said succinctly. "Why would Carol be upset at that? For as long as I've known about him, it always seemed that it was just her sense of duty that kept her from gutting the bastard herself."

"He went and did the one thing she never would have expected." Dave replied sadly. "He died protecting a group of cubs, and they're calling him a hero for doing it."

There was a pause on the other end of the line as Tess considered his words. "Spirits, that would have been awful for her. He truly was a despicable mammal for most of his life it seems, and just because he had a single moment of decency in the end, he gets to be exalted in the eyes of society? Hearing that probably made her feel violated all over again." Tess' voice took on a concerned tone as she spoke. "Is she alright, Dave?"

"She will be." He said confidently. The memories of the previous evening bringing a smile to his muzzle. "I don't think Watterman will be a problem any more at least." He gave a small chuckle at the thought and shrugged his shoulders subconsciously, dismissing the matter from his mind. "Regardless, I can _finally_ fill you in on your mystery couple now."

Tess gave a short bark of laughter in reply. "I'll give you a pass this time, Dave, but I want regular updates from now on. _Very_ regular updates."

"I'll do what I can. First, the pregnancy is real, and the fetus is a _Vulpes-Canis_ hybrid. We estimate that it's between 17-22 days old at this point, but the ultrasound hasn't shown any major deformities at this stage. From the outside, it looks like a healthy pup." He said, getting the biggest question out of the way first.

"How is that possible, Dave?" She asked, a almost palpable sense of awe present in her words. "The two species are so far apart that it should have been an impossibility." She paused for a moment before continuing. "With the Miller's, I was almost certain it was a false pregnancy, but with Janet...everything sense was telling me that she really was pregnant, but how could it happen?"

"We're still trying to figure out exactly how it happened...and we still have a long road to travel before we even know if the fetus is viable, but the key element seems to be that you were right to suspect something other than heterochromia in Tommy." He said utterly failing to keep the smile out of his voice. He knew from the patient histories that Tess had provided, she had long suspected something more significant in the fox's genetic background, but that his condition would be yet another shock for Tess to absorb.

"Ha!" She cried out over the phone. "I knew it! So what is causing the coloration? Was it chimerism? A mosaic trisomy? No, no, neither of those would explain the fetus..." Tess' voice trailed off as she ran through the possibilities.

Dave gave a laugh, and then decided to end the fox's suffering. "He's a tetraploid, Tess. A viable, healthy, tetraploid."

"That's impo…" She started to speak, but then caught herself and took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm guessing that the phrase 'that's impossible' is getting uttered a lot over at the Honeywell Centre these days."

Dave once again laughed. "You have no idea...and there are generally some more colorful words sprinkled in there to boot. It get's even stranger though, Tess. He has a boatload of chromosomal alterations, as well as what looks like five chromosomal fusions. I asked Dr. Brisby what the odds of it happening, and she couldn't even give a guess at this stage."

"I've been seeing those two for almost eight years now, and tetraploidy is not something that I ever would have considered." Tess paused, and Dave knew that she was running through the implications of this discovery. "Spirits, he has to be the oldest documented tetraploid in history. Are you sure about this? Nevermind, you wouldn't have said it if you weren't sure."

"We've confirmed it through multiple sources, and right now we're working up the initial genome sequence to try and figure out what we're dealing with both Mr. Rey and their pup." Dave sighed as once again the slim odds were staring him in the face. "Right now, my main concern is that the fetus might suffer from any number of trisomy conditions. She's probably got three copies of every chromosome, but if we were looking at the normal consequences of that, she never would have made it this far."

"There has to be some major variation in Tommy's contribution, Dave. It's the only explanation...unless you've noticed anything off about Janet?" The fox asked, quickly coming to the same conclusions that the staff at the Centre had.

Dave shook his head while speaking. "No, she appears to be within the normal range of genomic variation for a wolf. There are a few interesting recombination events in her DNA, but nothing compared to Tommy." The questions surrounding the fox were seemingly endless, and he once again felt the gnawing sensation that they were missing something in the back of his mind.

Pushing the thoughts away for the moment, he focused on some of the progress that had been made. "We did catch a break earlier today. Tommy brought in his mother's grooming brush, so we'll be able to figure out the origin of his chromatin much more quickly. There are way too many abnormalities in his genome for them to have come from a single parent, and figuring out how they've been inherited will help us to determine what we can do to help their pup."

"Any idea when you'll have a treatment plan...if you can help them at all?" Tess asked, the sense of wonder in her voice only partially dampered by her knowledge of the true odds of success.

Dave considered her question for a moment, as he worked out the timeline in his head. "We should have the full genome sequence for Janet and Tommy done by late tomorrow, or Saturday at the latest. Tommy's genome might be a bit tricky, but we're getting a new Sequel system tomorrow that will make dealing with a tetraploid genome much easier. The fetus' genome we should have by Tuesday, provided that the cell cultures are on schedule."

"Wait! You were able to get some of the fetal cells already?" Tess' voice was incredulous at the thought. "You performed an amnio on a fetus that's probably not even three weeks old? Have you lost your mind, Dave? The risks…"

"Were immense. I know, Tess. Believe me, I know." He said, knowing all too well what they had risked to harvest those cells. "Time is the biggest enemy here, Tess. Every cell division that happens is more tissue that we'll probably need to fix, and the longer we wait, the more chance that something fatal will develop. I give you my word that we were completely upfront with Janet and Tommy about the risks, but we needed that data if we're going to have _any_ chance of saving this pup." He paused for a moment before continuing. "You've known me for a long time, Tess. When have I ever risked a patient's safety when it wasn't necessary?"

Tess sighed in resignation. "I know you wouldn't do it if it wasn't needed, but fucking hell, Dave, I didn't think it was even possible at this early in the pregnancy."

Dave gave a short bark of laughter in reply. "The boundary between possible and impossible has been a bit hazy since you sent the Rey's our way, Tess, and necessity is most certainly the mother of invention in this case. My paws may have been steady, but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't terrified that I would screw it up. Doctor Wilson will be writing up the case study for the procedure. I'll forward the manuscript to you once it's done."

"I suppose it was worth it in the end then." She said, and Dave could still her some of the disbelief in her tone. "Also, can you forward me the results that you've gathered so far when you have the chance? I'd like to take a look at some of this stuff with my own eyes."

Taking a seat at his desk, he awkwardly cradled the phone on his shoulder as he logged into his workstation and began to gather together the various files. "Did you want everything including the sequencing data? There's about two hundred gigabytes of raw sequence reads that we're assembling, but I can include it if you want."

Tess laughed at the offer. "Thanks, Dave, but genomics is not my field. Just send along the test results to date, and when you have the genome sequenced, I'll try to wrap my head around the details, but at this stage I'd just be staring at a wall of letters, with no hope of teasing any information out of it."

Dave chuckled, and after encrypting the information, forwarded the Janet and Tommy's updated charts to Tess' office email account. "Done, and done. You should have everything except for the genome stuff, and there's more than enough material to slake your thirst for now."

"I wouldn't go that far, Dave. Until _all_ the Rey's are at home, I don't think that I'll be satisfied." Tess once again sighed over the line. "Thanks for taking this on, Dave. I know every mammal at the Centre does their best, but I'm glad that you're the lead on this one."

"It's what we're here for, Tess, and believe me, _every_ mammal here is pulling for the Rey's." He said confidently. "Why don't you, Hank, and Jordan join Carol and I for dinner sometime next week? By then, we'll have some more results, and it would be good to catch up in general."

"Does Monday work for you?" Tess asked immediately. "I'm not going to let you keep me in the dark for too long."

The amusement was plainly evident in her tone, but Dave also heard the serious undertone in her words. "I'll check with Carol tonight, and let you know. We'll figure out the where then."

"Sounds good, but I want to hear something from you tomorrow as well. No more going dark on me, Dave." The fox's tone took on a more jovial countenance as she continued. "Remember, I know where you live, and don't think that Carol will save your pelt." She said teasingly.

Dave laughed at the playful threat, but nodded his head in understanding. "Got it, Tess. I'll make sure to give you another call tomorrow. Have a good evening, and I'll talk with you then."

"You too, Dave. Talk with you later." She said before disconnecting the call.

" _Well that went better than I feared."_ Dave thought to himself as he looked to the small mountain of paperwork on his desk. The chaos of the Rey's had led to a monumental backlog in his other duties...but he also wouldn't be dealing with them today. The Rey's were still his priority, and would remain so for quite some time he thought.

A knock from the door distracted him from he thoughts, and he looked up to see Doug Mills standing in the doorway holding a patient's chart. "Dave, we just had another patient come in, and both Doug and Catherine are seeing other patients. Could you take a look?"

Checking the clock, Dave stood up and walked over to the Leopard. "Sure thing, Doug." He said, and took the chart from the nurse's paws. "Which room are they in?" He asked, heading towards the front of the clinic.

"They're in Exam One, and I've already handled the initial blood draw and sent the samples down to the lab." Doug said, walking beside Dave as he flipped through the chart and made note of the details.

He saw that his new patients, A Ms. and Mr. Ovus, were a goat and sheep couple, and he considered the implications of the pairing. Historically hybrids between these two species were possible, but exceedingly rare, which meant that the odds of the fetus being viable were slim, but still within the realm of possibility. The appearance of the Rey's at the Centre had somewhat colored his perceptions of what was possible, and he couldn't help but feel some optimism towards the new couple, and the thought made him pause momentarily.

Giving his head a shake, he mentally reprimanded himself. _"Don't forget where you are. The odds of this couple's kid_ _being healthy is less than five percent."_

Bringing his attention back to the chart, he noted that the background narrative was a common one at the Centre. The couple had been referred by their primary physician when Ms. Ovus had discovered that she was pregnant.

Reaching the door to Exam One, Dave knocked on the door and then let himself in. Nurse Mills headed over to the duty station, to give him some privacy so that he could do the initial consultation.

As he entered, he saw that the middle-aged couple were seated on the exam table, holding each other's hooves. Ms. Ovus was wearing a standard examination gown, while her mate was still in his street clothes. Both looked towards him, and Dave could see the worry and fear etched onto their faces.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Ovus, Mr. Ovus," he offered his paw to the pair in turn as he began the usual spiel, "I'm Doctor Hawthorne, one of the attending physicians at the Honeywell Centre."

"Hello Doctor." Ms. Ovus began, and Dave could hear the fear in her voice from just those two words. "Thank you for seeing us so quickly. We came as soon as Doctor Longfeld recommended the Centre." The goat cast her gaze downwards. "We should have been more careful. This...this isn't the first time we've been through this."

Her husband rested hoof on her shoulder, and leaned forward to rest his head against hers before looking up at Dave. "It was years ago; back when we were first married. We had barely found out that Rachel was pregnant when...well you probably know how this turns out."

Dave nodded somberly. "I do; all too well, and I'm very sorry for your loss."

The ram nodded his head in thanks, and Dave continued. "The odds are very much stacked against you, but we will do everything we can to help you and your kid." Flipping open the Ms. Ovus' chart he began taking notes. "To start with, I'll need to go over your medical history, and then I'll administer a physical exam so we can see how things are progressing. Once we have a handle on that, we'll see about what treatment options there are."

The pair nodded their heads, and Dave set about filling in their history. Once he had completed the basic questions, he focused in on the details of the current pregnancy. "How far along did Doctor Longfeld estimate the pregnancy was?" He asked, silently hoping that the pregnancy was far enough along that the odds would swing in the couples favor. He knew all too well that the pregnancies tended to end prior to three weeks, with most failing before implantation.

Ms. Ovus rested a hoof on her abdomen as she answered. "She pegged it as four to five weeks. I went through my heat just over 4 weeks ago, so it was her best guess."

" _Still in the first trimester, but past the real danger zone."_ Dave thought to himself as a very real smile spread across his muzzle at the answer.

"That's very good news that you're so far along. Providing that Doctor Longfeld was accurate, you're past the most precarious part of the pregnancy for hybrids between your two species." He said to the couple, and he saw the relief that spread across their faces. "Now, this doesn't mean that you're out of the woods just yet." He cautioned, "There could still be significant issues present, so we'll want to be careful going forward. We'll start with the physical exam, and then I'd like to perform a transvaginal ultrasound to see how the fetus looks. It's still very early, and it's only going to be a few centimeters big, but it will let me more accurately judge the stage of the pregnancy, as well as see if some of the anatomical features are developing normally."

"Of course, Doctor." Ms. Ovus said, making a shooing motion with here hooves towards her husband, who chuckled as he hopped down from the examination table.

The ram looked towards Dave as the wolf stood up and made his way to the sink to wash his paws. "Did you need me to leave, Doctor Hawthorne?" He asked.

Dave shook his head, and looked back over his shoulder as he lathered up his paws. "We want to make both of you as comfortable as possible here, so if Ms. Ovus would prefer you stay, that's fine with me. This should just be a standard exam, so we probably won't have to worry about 'Fainting Husband Syndrome' this time around."

Both mammals chuckled at Dave's words, and Ms. Ovus was the one to reply first. "I'd prefer that Randy stay then."

Dave nodded his head as his ears twitched in response to what he assumed was the sound of a chair being moved nearer to the examination table. When he turned back to look at his patients, he saw that his assumption had been correct, and Mr. Ovus had taken a seat by the head of the examination table, keeping his gaze locked with his mate.

"Alright Ms. Ovus, let's get started." He said, and began methodically working his paws over her form. He didn't detect any concerns throughout the entire procedure, and when he made an attempt to listen to the fetal heartbeat, something that would be exceedingly faint at this stage of the pregnancy, he could have sworn that he could hear the much fainter sound in the background.

He had a very real smile on his muzzle as he looked up at the goat's' face, and he was happy to see that some of the unease had faded from the pair.

" _We're still not through the woods just yet,"_ he thought to himself as he brought the ultrasound machine over from the corner of the exam room _"but this is going about as well as it can...Spirits, please let it stay that way."_

Positioning himself at the foot of the bed, he placed a sterile plastic sheath over the ultrasound wand, and liberally applied some lubricating gel to the device. Looking up at Ms. Ovus, he motioned for her to skoot down to the end of the table.

"Okay, Ms. Ovus, I just need you to place your hooves into the stirrups, and then we can get started. You might feel some pressure, but nothing too severe. If you do experience any pain, please let me know immediately." He said, as the goat followed his instructions.

Once she was in position is slowly inserted the wand, so as to minimize any discomfort. The wand itself was fairly thin, but as was too often the case, the embarrassment mammals felt at the thought of a complete stranger touching their most intimate of places could cause some mammals to subconsciously resist the intrusion.

Fortunately for all concerned, Ms. Ovus remained stoic throughout the procedure, and it only took Dave a few minutes to find what he was looking for. The small form of the fetus was plainly visible, and Dave nodded his head, silently giving credit to Doctor Longfeld estimate of the fetus' age. From the size and development, he guessed that the pregnancy was between 30-33 days.

As expected, the fetus was only about 3cm in length, but implantation had occurred perfectly, and he could just make out the limb buds growing off of the torso and hips. Adjusting the position of the wand, he focused in on the fetus' heart, and was pleased to see that everything looked normal, although the organ was far too small at this point to get the anything but the gross anatomical features, and he would need to have the couple come back for a follow up appointment.

He was just about to voice his opinion of the condition of their kid, when he noticed a small anomaly in the image. Once again adjusting the wand, he focused on the fetus' spinal region, and frowned slightly.

" _So much for this going along completely smoothly,"_ He thought to himself, _"but in the grand scheme of things, this is as close as we're going to get here."_

He froze the image on screen with a push of a button on the main unit, and then withdrew the wand from Ms. Ovus. He rotated the unit around so that the screen was visible for the couple, and he motioned for Ms. Ovus to sit up.

"It's mostly good news, I'm glad to say." He began, and he saw some apprehension ghost across both their faces.

" _Mostly_ good news?" Ms. Ovus asked, the trace of worry plainly evident in her tone.

"Yes, there is a minor defect in the fetus' spine." He said, pointing out the relevant feature on the screen. "You can see the curve right along here." He continued, focusing on the kid's thoracic region. "This is a very minor form of scoliosis, and it isn't anything to worry about at this stage. I'd estimate that it's only a fifteen to twenty degree curvature, which is very much considered a mild form of the condition." He paused to give the couple a chance to take in the diagnosis.

The two looked towards each other, worry still plainly visible on their faces, but Dave noticed that the subtle hint of fear in their scents was receding. Mr. Ovus cleared his throat before speaking.

"If this isn't something that we need to worry about, why bring it up at all?" He asked, some confusion in his voice.

Dave cocked his head to the side as he considered the question. "Mr. Ovus, you don't need to worry about it _at this stage_. We'll want to keep an eye on how your kid develops, and if the condition worsens, we will need to consider treatment options." He motioned back to the ultrasound image. "By the looks of things, everything else is developing normally, and I'd say that the most we'd need to do would be the use of a brace to help straighten out the spine as the kid grows."

"That's all? No surgery? Are there any other...problems that can happen?" Ms. Ovus asked, her gaze not straying from the monitor.

Dave shook his head in reply. "No, this condition isn't associated with any cognitive issues, and with such a mild version, there won't be any meaningful physical impairment. We will need to monitor it until they reach adulthood, as the condition can worsen during adolescence; the growth spurts can exacerbate the condition, but as I said earlier, simple bracing can mitigate that." He shrugged his shoulders, and tried to sound as confident as he could regarding the diagnosis. "We only really consider surgery for far more severe cases. The spinal deviation would need to be more than double what I'm seeing here before I would be particularly concerned." He allowed the broad smile to return to his muzzle. " Everything else is developing fine, and what you have is a healthy 'soat', and I don't see any reason why you won't be having an addition to your family in another five and a half months or so. Congratulations to you both!"

He was relieved to see that his words had apparently worked, and the worry on both mammals faces was replaced with fascination as they saw the form of their child on the screen. Dave could almost see the point where the realization finally dawned on Mr. Ovus, as his expression became one of shock. His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened in surprise. Dave and he braced himself in case any action would be needed on his part.

"I'm going to be a father." He mumbled quietly, and the words snapped Ms. Ovus' attention away from the monitor, a similar expression spreading across her face.

She reached out and embraced her husband, as the reality of the situation settled onto her shoulders. "We're gonna have a kid!" She cried out, and the two were lost in each other grasp for a jubilant moment.

It was such a rare thing to see at the Honeywell Centre, and Dave leaned back in his chair as the couple celebrated the news. There would be more tests to come, but unless something came up in the genetic screen, he was looking at a win for the Centre, and certainly a joyful event for the couple.

He gave them a few minutes to celebrate together before he cleared his throat to gain their attention. The two looked towards him, their smiles still present on their muzzles, and Dave could see that there were some tears in Mr. Ovus' eyes, but they were not the product of grief or despair.

"Just to caution you, the pregnancy is still in an early stage, so we will need to keep an eye on things." He began, not allowing the still very real smile to slip from his face. "We'll want to do a full genetic work up on the two of you, and I would like to perform an amniocentesis in a few weeks."

His thought traveled back to the procedure from yesterday, and he was relieved that such drastic action would not be required this time around.

"For now, I'll just collect some samples for the genetic screen, and then I'd like to see you again every two weeks so that I can monitor your progress." He said as he reached over to grab a pair of examination gloves.

Ms. Ovus nodded her head firmly. "That's fine Doctor Hawthorne, and thank you." She said, and Dave nodded his head in reply. He knew that there were still risks ahead for the couple, but they were the same ones that all mammals faced trying to bring new life into this world.

" _And I will do everything I can to help them do it!"_ He mentally promised himself as he went about collecting the required samples. They were his patients, and like the Rey's he would not stop until they walked out of here as a family.

* * *

It was only a short while later that he exited the exam room after giving the couple some information pamphlets about the upcoming tests that would be performed, as well as some pre-natal care packages for Ms. Ovus, along with her repeated promise that she would book the follow-up appointment directly.

After passing off the samples to Nurse Mills, he made his way back up to the Rey's room so that he could both return the collected fur to Tommy's brush, but also see about dealing with the questions Janet had mentioned earlier. When he reached the second floor, his nose told him that the caterer had indeed been by, and that the Rey's were in the midst of their proper supper. Once he reached their room, he knocked on the door frame, and let himself in.

As he had expected, the pair were seated at the small table by the window, and were gazing out as the lights of the city started to flick on for the evening, the remains of their meal sitting in front of them. They looked towards him as he entered, and Dave was please to see that their smiles remained firmly planted on their muzzles when they saw him.

"Hello again, Doctor Hawthorne." Janet said while pushing her emptied plate away from her.

Dave nodded his head and waved his paw in greeting. "I'm glad to see that the caterer arrived on time. Are you feeling a bit better now, Janet?" He asked the other wolf, though was happy to see that the tiredness that she had been visibly experiencing earlier was now absent..

"I'm much better now, thank you for asking." Janet replied, and then laughed as Tommy also pushed away his plate...which was still mostly filled. A look of shame was plainly written on his face, but Janet just shook her head at the fox. "Don't worry about it, Tommy. You ended up eating that whole sandwich earlier...and I'll probably have a nibble off of your plate when we're done with Doctor Hawthorne."

A smile returned to Tommy face at the words from his mate, and he looked up as Dave grabbed a chair and moved to join the couple.

"Thank you for coming by, Doctor Hawthorne." The multi-colored fox reached down into the backpack beside his chair and pulled out several papers.

"Janet mentioned that you had some questions, so I'm here to try and answer them if I can. Is it about your pup?" Dave asked, anticipating that the various puzzles surrounding Janet's pregnancy would be at the forefront of Tommy's mind. He was surprised when the fox shook his head, and handed over the documents to Dave.

"No, Doctor. It's about me." He said, as Dave looked through the material he had been given, and his eyebrows arched as he saw that all of it was regarding tetraploidy.

It was an eclectic mix of journal articles, websites, and blog posts, but all of them described the condition in a variety of mammalian species. Dave recognized several of the images that were part of the material, and the deformities that were present in some of them were the stuff of nightmares. When he looked back up at Tommy, he could see both confusion and fear on his face.

"Why am I still alive?" The fox asked quietly, and Janet quickly moved to his side, and knelt down to embrace her husband. He leaned into her arms, but his eyes remained focused on Dave. "I don't understand most of that," he said, motioning towards the papers with one paw, while his other moved to grasp that of his mate, "but it all says that I should have died a long time ago. Why? What makes me special?"

Dave shook his head in reply. "I wish I could tell you for certain, Tommy, but we only have an inkling as to how you've survived. You are completely unique as far as I know, and we are working to try and give you some real answers." Dave paused to gather his thoughts. He had been running through possible scenarios for Tommy survival since he had first been introduced to the Rey's. There were several possibilities, but all of them were...unlikely.

 _"Then again, everything about these two falls under 'unlikely'...Hell 'impossible' may be too weak a word for it."_ He mused internally.

He looked back towards the fox and shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "Tommy, I'll give you my best guess right now, but keep in mind that, from everything that I've seen in the tests that we've done, you are a completely healthy fox. I didn't find anything worrying with you at all, and I see no reason why this will change in the near future." He said and motioned to the papers in his paw. "Yes, tetraploidy is normally a fatal condition, but you have the most unique genome we've ever seen. Put simply, although you did receive all of your parent's chromosomes, _they_ appear to have been very different from the normal red fox to begin with."

Tommy's head cocked to the side in confusion. "They were different too?" He asked, and he leaned forward when Janet released her hold on him; the she-wolf's attention also focused on Dave.

Dave nodded his head and continued. "Yes, from the looks of your genome, your parents were already quite different from the normal red fox. We've observed multiple rearrangements in your chromosomes; far too many for them to have happened just in you. I think that they were already so different, that you _needed_ to be a tetraploid to have a chance." He paused as he considered his words. In truth, it was the only way that this made sense, but there were still so many questions.

"Tommy, do you know if your parents tried to have any other kits?" He asked after collecting his thoughts.

Tommy nodded his head. "I think they did try. They asked me if I wanted a brother or sister a few times." He shrugged his shoulders before continuing. "I don't think mom was ever pregnant again. Or, I didn't notice."

"A lot of things needed to happen for you to come about, Tommy, so I'm not surprised that you were an only kit." He said kindly. "We'll have more answers soon, but for now, what I think is happening is that most of your chromosomes are being silenced."

Tommy once again cocked his head to the side. "Silenced? I don't understand."

Dave considered how to explain the concept, and then remembered the papers in his paw. Motioning to them he tried to explain. "Think of your chromosomes like these papers. They contain the information on how to build...well you. The cell has a method of basically gluing the pages together so that you can't read the instructions anymore." He motioned over to Janet with his free paw. "In most mammalian females, this happens to one of the X chromosomes so that the cell doesn't make too many of the proteins that are written there, and that's why I think something similar is going on with you. If you really were able to 'read' all the instructions in your genome, you'd be expressing the wrong amount of almost every gene, but you're not, so something is keeping it from happening."

Tommy, expression was thoughtful. "So you think that's why I'm still alive?" He asked after a short pause.

"And I also think it's the reason why your pup has made it this far." He said then motioned towards the fox's mosaic coat. "It also explains why your fur and skin patterning is so varied. Most of your chromatin are being silenced somehow, but which ones are silenced varies. If this is similar to the X chromosome silencing I mentioned earlier, it doesn't happen until the embryo has already undergone several divisions, then each cell randomly silences one of the X chromosomes."

Dave held up his paws to show that he was still unsure about the real cause of Tommy's survival. "It's only a guess at this point, but it explains most of what we've seen in both you and your pup." He shook his head and gave a short bark of laughter before continuing. "This type of research fall under the auspice of something called epigenetics, and we're still very much trying to understand how it all works out...so much so that saying that the underlying cause is epigenetics is sometimes viewed as a cop-out by other researchers.

Janet and Tommy also laughed at the admission, but then Tommy's expression went back to being thoughtful. "But you think that's really the case with me?" He asked, and then his gaze drifted over to Janet's face before resting on her abdomen. "With our pup?"

"I do, Tommy. We'll hopefully have some answers in the coming days, and I promise you that we will do everything we can to make sure that all three of you leave the Centre together." He said and reached out to place a paw on the smaller fox's shoulder.

"Thank you." Tommy said quietly, and a small smile returned to his muzzle as he continued to look at his mate.

Releasing his grip, Dave placed the papers on the table and leaned back in his chair. "Did you have any other questions, Tommy? Janet?"

Tommy shook his head. "No, I have enough to think about." He looked up at Dave and shrugged slightly. "This is all so...hard to get. I'm trying, I really am."

"I know you are, Tommy." Janet said, reaching out to cup her husband's cheek. "Doctor Hawthorne does too. We'll talk about it tonight, okay?"

Tommy sighed and pressed his cheek more firmly against her paw. "Okay, Janet." Looking back to Dave, Tommy once again smiled. "Thank you again for coming. I think I understand, but can I ask you more questions later?"

Dave nodded his head in reply. "Of course, Tommy. Anytime you need me, just ask." He looked over to Janet, who was just standing up. "That also goes for you, Janet. As Doctor Wilson said when we first met. Any questions you may have, and any time you have them, just ask."

Janet gave a small laugh at Dave's words. "Thank you Doctor. I'm good for now, but we all know that more questions will come."

Dave stood up and offered his paws to the pair. "That they will, and I'll keep digging for answers. I'll leave you two to yourselves, but I'll check in tomorrow morning."

"You have a good evening, Doctor Hawthorne, and I think Nurse Talon mentioned it being movie night, so that should keep Tommy and I occupied." Janet said, as she returned to her original seat, while Tommy moved his chair to rest beside hers.

The fox looked back over his shoulder at Dave. "Good night, Doctor," was all he said as he and his mate went back to watching the cityscape transition into its evening glow.

Dave turned on his heel, and left the couple to their thoughts. Speaking with Tommy had made him consider the fox's condition from another angle, and he mentally made a note to focus on some of the epigenetic markers that the did have an understanding of.

" _I'll need to have Beth take a look at this."_ He thought to himself as he made his way down to the first floor to get changed and head out for the evening. _"Chromatin conformation is more her specialty."_

"Always more questions." He said to himself as he donned his training attire. A smile was fixed on his muzzle as he considered one question in particular. "...and now to answer one big one. What did Carol mean when she said 'switch things up'." Whatever the answer was, he was almost certain that it would involve some new bruises in his near future.

Closing his locker, he made his way out of the Centre. The weight from the day's earlier tragedies were still firmly in his mind, and he knew that more tragedies would arise in the future, but he had done everything that he could to help those mammals. It was something that he would do again and again. As he walked through the lobby, waving goodbye to Natalie as he passed by, he once again silently made a promise to Janet and Tommy.

" _Somehow, I will find the answers we need."_

* * *

End Notes:

This time, I'm going to post some of the last Science Duscussion thread from the Zootopia Sub-Reddit that I hosted about a month ago. It dealt with a topic intimately related to this story, Hybrids in Zootopia, and why they are probably rare.

**Hybrid Rarity:**

First up is the question of why hybrids are so rare? Why is it that we don't see hybrids occurring all the time? Well in many ways, we do, we just don't recognize it. If you live in North America, you may have heard of the rise of the coydog and the coywolf. As the name would indicate these acre crosses between a coyote ( _Canis latrans_ ) and either a dog ( _Canis lupus familiaris_ ) or wolf ( _Canis lupus_ ). As humans have encroached on the natural territories of both wolves and coyotes, this type of interaction was bound to happen.

Normally, coyotes are usually found as solitary predators, or in pairs. In the coywolves and coydogs, they are much more likely to form packs, additionally they are larger than their wild brethren, and this has enabled them to be remarkably successful in both urban and wild environments. Where things get tricky is that, by and large Timber Wolves are remarkably shy around humans...the fact we tend to shoot them when they're not is a very strong selective pressure. This means that overall interactions between humans and wolves is very low.

...the coywolves do not share their cousin's fear of humans. There have been several brazen attacks on pets, and suspected attacks on humans caused by packs of coywolves. Regardless, they represent one example of a successful hybrid that you might not know about, but let's get back to the question of why we don't see them all the time.

**Genetics**

Now when we're talking about genetics, I'd just like to clarify a few elements about genes and genomes before we delve deep into this. The basic element of mammalian genomes is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). There are 4 of these base pairs that make up the mammalian genome, Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Guanine (G), and Cytosine (C). These nucleobases form a long polymer, so long in fact that each cell in your body contains about 3m worth of it. Each nucleotide base pairs with one of the others leading to the two strands of DNA containing 2 strands of DNA, with with each position containing either an A:T or G:C base pair.

The basic dogma of molecular biology is that DNA leads to RNA which leads to one or more proteins, but things get a bit more complicated when you consider that the DNA not only contains the sequences needed to produce the proteins (called the coding region), but also contains all the regulatory elements that tell the cell where and when to express (or cease expressing) a given gene. The number of genes that are shared among mammals is utterly amazing to consider. Within families, it's not uncommon for 90% of all the genes present in an organism to be highly conserved.

In looking at humans and chimpanzees, you'll often see the figure of 98.8% of our genetic material is conserved between our two species, yet the differences between humans and all the great apes is still shocking. How can only 1.2% difference make up such a change. First, this number generally refers to the gene content of the two species, which is highly conserved, but there's more to what makes up a mammal than just the genes, it's where they're expressed and how they're used.

This is really a key point, and it is the main reason why we don't see broad crosses between two species. In mammalian reproduction, the young get half their genes from the mother, and half their genes from their father. Think of each of those genomes as being instruction manuals for how to build and organism. During cell division, those instructions need to match up (chromatin pairing) so that the contents can be divided evenly.

One key thing to remember is that even in same species pairings, things go wrong during embryogenesis. There are multiple points in the cell cycle where, if things are not progressing properly (chromosomes aren't dividing equally, or the organelles aren't working properly), the cell commits suicide (apoptosis or programmed cell death). This is a good thing, as it keeps damaged cells from reproducing, which is what happens in some cancer cells.

Regardless of the source, these genetic abnormalities happen frequently. In humans, it's estimated that up to 40% of pregnancies fail before the woman even knows she's pregnant. The embryo degrades, and is reabsorbed.

...and that happens almost half the time with a same species pairing.

During mitosis (normal cell division), there's more wiggle room to work with, as the daughter chromosomes are split apart and compartmentalized with comparative ease. Where things get dicey is during meiosis (sexual cell division), where the cell must only receive one copy of a chromosome pair...and if the chromosomes can't recognize their complementary partner, this can't happen. Additionally, part of meiosis is homologous recombination, where portions of the paired chromosomes can swap between each other. In closely related species, the genes from one region tend to match up with the genes from their counterpart, but in more distantly related species, this swap could result in the loss of a critical gene, thus leading to a non-viable gamete or embryo. This is the reason why so many hybrids are sterile, but can still survive. They're close enough that the two instruction sets don't conflict too much, but the chromosome number differences causes them to be unable to reproduce sexually.

For instance, mules are the result of a horse breeding with a donkey. Horses (Equus caballus) have 32 chromosome pairs (often you'll see this listed as the diploid number 2n=64), while donkeys (Equus asinus) have 31 pairs (2n=62). A mule has a diploid chromosome number of 2n=33...dividing that by 2 doesn't work, so the gametes fail to form MOST of the time. Very, very rarely (like 20 instances in recorded history, including one dating back to 480BCE), the genetics will work out, and a hinny may be able to reproduce with a pure strain horse or donkey.

It's important to note that, even if the chromosome number matches, there can still be issues. In the case of ligers and tigons, both tigers (Panthera tigris) and lions (Panthera leo) have 38 chromosome pairs, but male hybrids are invariably infertile. This is because, although the chromosome number is the same, the content of those chromosomes differs. As another example, ferrets also have 38 chromosomes, but there is a 0% chance that they'd be able to breed with a lion. The reason for this is the biggest hurdle in hybrid biology:

**Differing instructions for how to make a mammal**

This is the key part, and it is the reason why our beloved WildeHopps (and other more heretical pairings) are often doomed to failure. Each parental contribution to the embryo contains the full instructions to create another individual of the same species. When the two genomes (paternal and maternal) get into conflict, it can cause serious issues.

For now, I'm going to crush a few dreams and give an example of how these instructions can lead to a nightmare situation, and yes, this is going to involve a comparison between a fox and a rabbit...sorry for this.

Most people would just look at the anatomical differences between the two species, and envision a simple fusion of the two species (Violet, I'm looking at you), but unfortunately, the changes aren't just skin deep. Although the skeletal differences alone would make a rabbit/fox hybrid a difficult prospect, but that is the least of our concerns. Just take a look at the digestive system of the two species. From the start, the presence of amylase (breaks down starch) in rabbit saliva is a key distinction, but this isn't even the big change. The stomach of most carnivores is extremely acidic (pH ~2), while for a rabbit and many herbivores it's usually above a pH of 4. The structure of the lining of the stomach, and the parietal cells are all modified to operate in their own ideal environment. For herbivores, this involves a slower digestion to allow for long chain carbohydrates (sugars, starches and cellulose) to be broken down, while in the carnivores, it wants to break down the tissue as fast as possible to prevent purification (which is a real concern with meat-based diets).

This trait continues into the intestines, where predators have relatively short small and large intestines. The nutrients from the meat they consume is easily absorbed once broken down, so they don't need a lengthy digestive tract. In fact a long digestive system would be harmful, as it would allow for the meat to spoil while still inside them. Additionally, there are additional enzymes and secretions in the small intestine that aid in the digestion of proteins and fats that are either greatly reduced in herbivores, or are completely absent.

For rabbits, their digestion is...different. Rabbits are hindgut fermenters, who have a specialized organ called a cecum (present in humans in a much reduced form, and non functional), which is an elongated pouch that serves as a incubator for several bacterial species who break down carbohydrates and fatty acids. This feature is utterly vestigial in carnivores (and humans), who also lack any enzymes to break down cellulose.

Note: For Zootopia, I'm pretty certain that the product of the cecum, caecotrophs, are not reingested by rabbits.

That's just one example of what would need to be accounted for if the genetic diversity was similar to our own world. In each case, you'd need to alter the relevant genes to make them more in keeping with the rabbit than the fox. This would also include a lot of skeletal morphology, as the regulatory elements of those genes would need to be kept in sync or all hell would break loose during embryogenesis.

**A common language, but different implementation**

DNA is a kind of programming language, but the kicker is that, although some of the language is conserved over all mammalian species (which nucleotides base pair with each other, what 3 nucleotides represent which amino acid), the overall code can change with regards to the regulatory elements, as those are shaped independently over time.

One common misconception with evolution is that it leads to the best solution for a given situation, but this is far from the case. The mutations that power evolution are random in nature, and really all that nature cares about is that an organism has either an advantage or a disadvantage relative to others. No solution needs to be the best, it just has to work better than what exists. There are numerous examples of a gene, or the regulatory element of a gene becoming broken, mashed together with another gene, or even having two unrelated genes getting stuck together, yielding new functions, and these differences only get bigger the farther apart two species become.

Differences in gene content, gene function, and gene regulation all come into play when you try to make a hybrid. For really distantly related species, the changes might be so great that the egg and sperm don't even recognize each other, but even if fertilization can occur, these changes mean that these embryos rarely make it past a few cell divisions.

They're trying to build two different animals after all.

* * *

Wow, that was a significant chunk of text. Hopefully everything made sense. For once, there isn't too much to go over, but I can't leave without a little bit of **Science Time!**

 **Cell Preservation:** Left on their own, most organic tissue breaks down after cell death, but obviously this isn't always the case. In the lab, several methods are used to preserve tissue, and I've mentioned several of them in the past when dealing with tissue fixation. Basically, you want to either chemically fix, snap freeze, or dessicate the tissue quickly if you want to use it down the road. There are real consequences for what you can use the tissue for downstream depending on which method you choose. For DNA extraction, freezing is the prefered method, as it halts any degradation, and the extraction of high quality DNA is generally easy.

In the case of desiccation, time is the biggest enemy. Once the tissue is fully dried out, things are generally stable, but the DNA starts to degrade almost immediately after (or even prior to) cell death. Naturally desiccated DNA, tends to be highly fragmented, although it can still be sequenced or used for DNA fingerprinting (STR analysis).

In the case of the fur presented in this story, the follicles would have naturally dried out over a few days, so the DNA would be pretty chopped up. This is why the odds of being able to get a good karyotype are basically zero. You'd need to have the confluence of a cell caught in mitosis, that was also desiccated quickly enough to keep the chromatin condensed.

Just a bit of a long shot.

 **Mosaic Trisomy:** This is actually a neat condition...but it is associated with some diseases. It occurs when you have a patchwork of cells where some have the normal number of chromatin, but the others have three of one chromosome. Since the genetic disorder isn't present in all the cells, it's possible for individuals with this condition to survive diseases that would normally be fatal if they had full on trisomy.

 **Chimerism:** Now this one is kind of freaky, but it is possible for there to be two genetically distinct genomes in a single individual. It generally occurs when the embryos of twins merge together early on in development. The mixture of cells go on to form the various tissues of the mammal, so you end up with things like the heart being genetically distinct from the lungs, or patches of skin being genetically distinct, and forming an almost striped appearance when viewed under UV light (Blaschko's lines).

 **Epigenetics:** I'm not going to delve too deeply into this one, although I could probably write an entire book on it. As I described in the story proper, epigenetics is at it's root the regulation of chromatin conformation and gene expression that is not the result of changes in the DNA sequence itself. The main way that this works is that enzymes modify both the DNA strand itself through the addition of a methyl group (CH3) to one of the nucleotides (usually cytosine), or by adding methyl or acetyl groups (C2H3O) to the histone proteins that the DNA strand is wrapped around.

When the right conditions are present, these molecules are added and removed, thus causing the DNA strand to either condense, rendering the genes encoded within silent (they can't be accessed by the RNA polymerase, or relax, thus allowing for the genes to be transcribed.

There is quite a bit of debate going on regarding the heritability of these epigenetic markers, as there are several points where they appear to be erased during meiosis as well as shortly after fertilization. There is some data showing that these marks can be inherited however, thus indicating that, even when erased, the memory of where they need to be restored. The evidence for this comes from plant, and mammalian sources, and the most interesting ones was from the study of Dias and Ressler (2008). They exposed rats to a very particular olfactory stimulus with a loud noise to invoke fear. What they found was that the offspring reacted to the scent stimulus even in the absence of the noise.

In sequencing the DNA of the mice, they found that there were epigenetic changes that were conserved between the parent and their young.

Basically, the parents were able to pass along their fears in this instance.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll cut things off here, and as always, I thank you readers for your time. If you have any questions or comments, just let me know. There is another side project on the go with another author, but I'm keeping it secret for now.
> 
> ...I will say that it's going to be quite different than Lost Causes.
> 
> All the best,
> 
> eng050599


	13. Chapter 13: Learning and Leisure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone,
> 
> This chapter took way too long to come out, and I take full responsibility for it. Three months is a long time, but a combination of real life as well as stretching myself a bit thin took its toll on me. Summer is a busy time at my institution, and it’s also when many conferences are going on, and I was literally travelling halfway around the world at times (for readers who live in Hawaii...you are blessed beyond words).
> 
> Fortunately, I wasn’t idle during this time, and the result is another doozy of a chapter. This time around it’s a proper break chapter, so no tears this time around...although it wouldn’t be my story if there weren’t some more serious moments, but I held back. I hope you all can enjoy it.
> 
> In addition to writing this chapter, I was also involved in Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps’ latest collaborative work, the What If? Project. Most of you are probably aware of his mammoth One Hundred Kisses from last year, or his Always my Sly Bunny, Always my Dumb Fox, and this new project takes things in an entirely different direction. In my mind, the closest comparison are the What-If Machine episodes from Futurama. Basically, it allows authors to come up with unique scenarios for Nick and Judy to experience. Everything from the age of the first pact between predators and prey, to the distant future.
> 
> For my contribution, I finally was talked into writing a Nick and Judy-focused tale...but we all know that I can’t do normal at the best of times, so my arc has the duo in a very different role; as hitmammals for Mr. Big. The two of them are still making the world a better place...just using some more permanent methods. I encourage you to give the entire work a read, as it’s the combined efforts of dozens of authors and artists. Hitmammals itself is included in chapters 28-32, and can also be found in my Side Stories collection on both FanFiction and AO3.
> 
> Once again, my thanks to WildeNick for editing this rather lengthy chapter. Please show him some love and read his story, Three Months a Fox.

* * *

 

Now to acknowledge those readers who took the time to comment on Chapter 12, and to a few new readers who have just started LC&BD.

From FanFiction:

stevegallacci: I’m glad that the character interactions and the drama worked in the chapter, and you’re quite right that there is a dearth of drama for the sake of drama. Also, I can’t thank you enough for the drawing that you made for the story, and I can’t wait to show it to the readers as part of Chapter 14.

Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps: I think everyone was waiting for Jason to suffer some kind of real consequence, and as always I value your input, as well as giving me a chance to contribute to the What If project.

Berzerker88: I always try to make sure that all of my characters are more than just one-dimensional background fodder. Jason is most assuredly “that dickhead doctor” but there is more to him, and I’m happy you found the insight into him interesting.

Nicolaiwulf: You’ll see how Dave fares shortly, but bruises are incoming.

CK: Before starting Lost Causes, I had no idea I could write narrative fiction at all, so I’m glad that I’ve managed to meld the narrative and the science together. I’ll be interested to see your work as well.

KOakaKO: The mystery of the Rey’s will eventually either be solved, or yet another family will be crushed by tragedy. I’m certainly going to keep my cards close to my chest on this one.

Chorpion: I hope you made a full recovery...and also that you didn’t smash your phone. I can attest that the nurses probably would have been unimpressed with you.

Tinbuzzard11: I’m glad you stumbled onto the story, and thank you for your suggestions. I’m still learning how this style of writing works, and I have a long way to go, so any and all help is appreciated.

Ande883: Welcome aboard, and I hope that you enjoy the story as it unfolds.

From AO3:

WolfGuardMiestwin: Working at a university setting has shown me that it is entirely possible to be utterly brilliant, but also socially stunted at the same time. For mammals like Jason, the feelings of others doesn’t even enter into his thought process...until something like what happened in chapter 11 makes it affect them.

PAMDirac: I hope you managed to watch the megaplate video. It’s a beautiful chronicling of evolution in action.

CAPTAINPRICE79: I see that you’ve become attached to Tommy and Janet, and sorry for torturing you over on Discord. There are no tears in this chapter, so it should be easier on the heart than the last one.

Venomheart_The_Dreamer: Glad you gave the story a chance, and that you enjoyed it. Sorry that there are no tears in this one, but I hope you like the dialogue and fight choreography.

MayaSerena: Believe me, I wish I had something like Epigenetics for Dummies. Unfortunately, it ends up that I’m the dummy who has to figure it out for myself.

DrBry: Welcome on board, and I hope that you made it through the rest of the story to date. You hit peak sadness (so far) with Chapter 10, and this chapter is a true break from the tragedy at the Honeywell Centre.

And now, after far, far too long, I give you chapter 13 of Lost Causes and Broken Dreams

* * *

 

**Chapter 13: Learning and Leisure**

As he left the Honeywell Centre, Dave glanced at his wristwatch, and gave a slight wince when he saw that it was already seven. He knew that he would need to hurry if he didn’t want to risk getting on Carol’s bad side. Even though the two of them had undergone a kind shared catharsis in their relationship, it wouldn’t stop the coyote from punishing him for being tardy.

 _“The odds are that the other students will already be warmed up, so I better make the most of this,”_ he thought to himself as he started jogging. He had never been much of a runner prior to meeting Carol, but he had quickly taken up the _hobby_ in self-defense. Unlike his mate, it wasn’t something that he particularly enjoyed, but it did provide some physical benefits, as well as representing another activity they could do as a couple...even if she regularly left him in both the literal and proverbial dust most of the time.

As he picked up the pace, his breath began to come out in a measured pant, as he moved to push his limits once again. _“It will be a few weeks before I’ll see any real benefits from giving up smoking,”_ he thought to himself as he settled into a measured cadence, _“but until then, just keep pushing like she’s taught you.”_

He had known from the get go that maintaining an active lifestyle would be a requirement in their particular relationship, and overall it was something that he enjoyed. After spending 12 plus hours at the Centre, he needed someone who was _very_ eager to kick his tail into doing more than flopping on the couch at the end of the day, and Carol had taken to that particular responsibility with a zeal that only she could possess.

The memory of their third date together flashed through his mind as he ran. It had been to an eighteen kilometer obstacle course that had left him literally crawling over the finish line, after being beaten, soaked, electrocuted, and frozen...all while Carol and some of her ZAF comrades offered the military’s version of _encouragement_ to the poor wolf. He had persevered though, and over the years his fitness had improved across all measures. He still couldn’t compare to his mate and the other ZAF personnel, and even though he had fallen behind in recent weeks, he was still in the best shape of his life, and as a wolf, that was something to take pride in.

He had managed to work up to a comfortable pace by the time he reached Carol’s salle. As expected, there were a pawful of ZPD cruisers in the small lot, but he was surprised to see that he and Carol’s car was absent. He momentarily checked his phone to see if he had missed any messages, but there were no notifications other than the usual deluge of pharmaceutical sales spam in his in box.

 _“Another question to be added to the pile,”_ he thought to himself with a chuckle as he pocketed his phone and entered through the front door. As expected there was no one manning the front desk, so he made his way to the back of the lobby and tapped his wallet on the RFID sensor to unlock the inner door leading to the changing rooms.

“At least some answers will be forthcoming here,” he muttered as he stored his gear in the locker, his nose already picking out a few familiar scents in the air. He could tell that Robert was among the current crop of students, and he also thought he caught the scent of Ivan Grizzoli. The two wolves were both familiar students of Carol’s and they had built up a bit of rapport over the past couple of years. Although Grizzoli was several years their junior, it had been coincidental that all three had come from traditional wolf households, and they had found it amusing how the pack instinct to protect had steered them into their various vocations.

The other scents were more indistinct, and Dave resigned himself to going in cold for this particular test of Carol’s. Her words from this morning hinted at something new, but what exactly that was, he had only an inkling. Possibly it would involve the size of his opponent...or perhaps the number of them. It was true that the vast majority of his training was with Carol herself, and she was significantly smaller than him.

 _“Not that it would make much of a difference,”_ he thought to himself as he exited the change room, and made his way to the training floor. _“I could be a ten foot tall rhino, and she’d still have me eating floor mats.”_

As he approached the door, his ears twitched as they heard the familiar sounds of mammals training. After tapping his access card on the reader, he entered quietly and took in his new training mates.

As he had suspected, Carol was absent from the group, and a frown crested his muzzle as he tried to parse the meaning. Ivan Grizzoli was currently practicing takedowns with a female tigress, whom he recognized as Officer Nadine Fangmeyer, while Wolford was working with other two easily recognizable officers, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

 _“Interesting,”_ he thought to himself. _“These are Carol’s best and brightest in the ZPD.”_ This thought was immediately followed by a sinking feeling in his stomach, and a nagging question in his mind. _“What the hell am I doing here with them?”_

As part of his training with his mate, he was familiar with the progress of many of the regular ZPD officers that trained in AMCQC. Carol was not one to give praise lightly, but each of these mammals had impressed the fiery coyote, and that spoke volumes regarding their proficiency. All this made his own presence all the more confusing. He was just a civilian after all. He may have been training for far longer than most of the ZPD, but it was little more than a hobby, and another way to spend time with Carol.

He pushed these thoughts away as he saw Wolford’s ears twitched towards him as the door clicked shut, and the other wolf turned to greet him with a warm smile and a raised paw.

“You made it, Doc!” Robert said warmly as he walked over and offered his paw to Dave, who grasped it firmly, and smiled as he spoke.

“Wouldn’t miss it...not like Carol made it an option.” There were chuckles from around the room at the admission, and Dave made a motion to the Salle. “On that note...I thought she’d be here by now.”

Grizzoli gave a bark of laughter and picked up an envelope from the side of the room, before walking over and handing it to Dave. “Spitfire said she needed to pick up some friends for this session, and to give you this when you got here.”

Dave looked at the plain envelope with a simple _“Dave, open me!”_ jotted down on the outside. Shrugging he used a claw tip to slice open the flap and pulled out a single piece of paper inside. He had to laugh at the penmanship, as Carol was the one who had the doctor’s paw-writing in their relationship, but he was well experienced in deciphering both Carol’s script, as well as his colleagues.

_Dave,_

_Picking up some folks from Savannah Central Command. Take over and drill sticky paws until I get back. You and Wolford are together. I want Hopps and Wilde, and Grizzoli and Fangmyer paired up. We’ll switch things up once I bring our surprise “guests”._

_Aim for speed._

_Love, Carol_

“Awww, ain’t that sweet, Doc?” Wolford teased over his shoulder before chuckling to himself. “It’s been a while since we ran that drill, but Spitfire mentioned wanting to get the ZPD back in shape with it a few weeks ago.”

The other members of the class had closed in around the two wolves, and Dave noticed more than a few quizzical glances at the paper in his paws. Flipping the page towards the other mammals, he cocked his head to the side. Before speaking.

“Well, we have our marching orders, as it were,” he said, and gestured towards Officers Hopps and Wilde. “I don’t think we’ve had the chance to be introduced before; I’m Dave Hawthorne,” he offered his paw to the pair.

There was a knowing smirk on Wilde’s muzzle as he shook Dave’s paw, “Oh we both know about you, Doctor Dave. Carol has told quite a few stories about you since we joined up.” The todd released Dave’s paw and motioned to himself. “Nick Wilde, and this is my partner...”

“Judy, Judy Hopps,” the doe chimed in, cutting off Nick with a sideways glance before shaking Dave’s paw in turn. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person...well for more than a glimpse at least, and don’t mind Nick, Carol practically gushes over you.”

Dave looked at the rabbit somewhat askance at the comment, knowing full well that, when in the salle and teaching, ‘gushing’ and ‘Carol’ were two words that rarely existed in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence.

Nick also looked confused, at the statement. “Are we talking about the same Carol Latrans, Carrots?” he asked with no small confusion in his voice. “Last week, I believe she called him a ‘ _clumsy oaf_ ’, and compared him to Francine on the dance floor.”

There was a rumble of laughter behind the pair, as Fangmeyer chose that moment to speak up. “It’s a girl thing, Wilde,” she said, with a dismissive wave of her paw before holding up a single digit. “She might call him, clumsy.”

“Or, lazy,” Judy added without missing a beat.

Nadine nodded adding another digit into the air before continuing, the two passing the insults back and forth, “Infuriating.”

“Stubborn,”

“Pig headed,”

“Workaholic,”

“Lacksidasical,”

“Soft,”

Fangmeyer paused at that one and shook her head, looking down at the rabbit before replying, “No, I think that one was an honest term of endearment.”

Judy looked confused, “Are you sure? It seemed like the other ones.”

“No, I think she was referring to emotionally soft, which I’m pretty sure she likes,” the tigress said before waving her paws dismissively. “Anyways, she may say those things, but that’s not what she feels.”

“Anyone with half a brain could see what she really thinks,” Judy said, a smile appearing on her muzzle as she looked over at Nick. “Which does explain why you missed the message, Slick.”

Dave shook his head and looked to the assembled mammals, only to pause when Wolford near doubled over in laughter. The older wolf regained control quickly, but was wiping away a tear when he looked to his fellow males.

“Oh Spirits, the expressions on your faces,” he said while giving Dave and Nick a pitying shake of his head. “Don’t try to understand it. Even after ten years of marriage, you’ll only scratch the surface.” Looking over to Hopps and Fangmeyer he continued, “At least one of us got the message, Stripes. Spitfire’s feelings for this sap are well know.”

There was more laughter, although for Dave, Nick and Ivan, they were pretty sure it was at their expense. After the brief moment of levity, Dave shook his head and clapped his paws together.

“Okay, I’ll just settle for being confused on this one, but let’s not be lounging around when Carol gets back,” he said and made his way to the front of the salle.

Once Robert had joined him, he forwarded the instructions from his mate, “Hopps, you’re with Wilde. Fangmeyer, you and Grizzoli pair up. Robert, you already know you’re with me.”

Once they were paired off, with plenty of room between the groups, Dave continued, “Carol wants us to drill sticky paws until she gets back.”

There were a few groans from Grizzoli and Hopps, but Dave smile and continued. “I trust that everyone has already gone through the basics before?” He looked around the room and saw everyone nod. “Alright then, go at your own pace, try to match your partner’s movements, and feel free to include any strike or throw that you’re comfortable with,” he stepped forward and took up a loose stance, touching left forearms with Wolford.

Before they began, the older wolf looked back at his comrades. “Spitfire wants us to focus on speed, so I want to see you mammals move!” he said and then looked back at Dave. “That goes double for you, Doc. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Dave tilted his head in acknowledgement, and then took up an offensive position lashing out with a right palm strike to the other wolf’s chin. Wolford easily, parried the blow, with his own right paw, maintaining contact as he used the movement to rotate Dave’s paw into their touching left arms.

This forced Dave to break the contact with his left arm, but he rotated his right wrist to come up under Wolford’s, and as such maintained contact even as Robert stepped in close with his left leg, while bringing his freed right arm across horizontally, fully bent at the elbow, attempting to take off Dave’s head with a forearm quick smash.

Dave smiled slightly, as he took the blow on his left arm, which he snapped up while he turned slightly counterclockwise, and snaked his right leg around Wolford’s extended left, leveraging the other wolf’s knee in the process. Forcing his opponent’s knee to bend using his weight, Dave broke contact with his arms and continued the rotation to snap his left elbow towards Robert’s face.

As soon as he felt Wolford’s paw just manage to stop the blow, he released the pressure on his knee and completed the rotation, while quickly moving to wrap Robert’s blocking paw with his own, so as to maintain contact between them.

The pair ended up almost back in the same position from when they’d started, with each one only in contact by their entwined left arms. There was a smile on both their muzzles after the brief exchange, which had lasted no more than a pawful of seconds. Robert gave his eyebrows a wiggle, and then without warning, began the dance again.

The key to the exercise was to maintain at least one point of contact throughout the entire affair. Each opponent judged the actions of their counterpart by touch, as well as by sight, sound and smell. Dave and Robert, began to move faster and faster, their paws transitioning from strike to parry in the space between heartbeats. Just as comfort with one pace began, one would push the cadence faster. Their expressions shifted from one of amusement to determined concentration.

Paw and elbow strikes were soon joined by close-range kicks to the legs, or quick knees to the groin and abdomen. The two wolves moved back and forth, their limbs constantly in motion, wrapping around each other, trying to find an advantage, some form of leverage, or an opening through which to strike. Once again, Dave felt his focus tighten to encompass only his opponent. All of the tears and pain from earlier in the day were cleansed from his mind, as he pushed himself to find an opening in Wolford’s defenses. He let go of the past, and focused on the present. He could sense his opponent doing likewise, as the two wolves probed each other, searching for a way to strike and gain an advantage.

Neither one would provide such an opportunity, and Dave switched from trying to force a break in Wolford’s defense after scoring only a glancing blow with a knife paw strike, and instead began moving faster. He had learned over the years that Carol couldn’t stand toe to toe with larger mammals. In the end strength and reach would win out if she tried to face it head on. Instead, she had showed him...using techniques that usually left their literal mark on him, that going through was often not as smart as going around.

Years on the force had imbued more strength than years on the microscope, and over time, as fatigue set in, Dave knew that he would need to start finding ways around the mistakes that would inevitably follow. Speed could do that. Carol had been right that morning when she said that he was too used to sparring with smaller mammals; too used to sparring with her. He could already feel that Wolford was reaching the point where he was on the edge of control, but Dave still had a bit of celerity in reserve, and so he pushed the other wolf to move faster.

The effect was almost immediate. Wolford’s blocks became less controlled, and his retaliations were hesitant, as defense became the focus for his actions. At the edges of his awareness, Dave noted that their sparring had attracted some attention from the other students, but he couldn’t spare even a glance, as Wolford launched into a rapid series of strikes, trying to push him off balance and regain the momentum.

The attacks came in quickly, the older wolf striking out simultaneously with his left paw and leg at the same time. Dave couldn’t get his paw in place to deflect the blow, and took a strong punch to his floating ribs as punishment, but he was able to stomp down on the extended leg before it could connect, throwing Robert out of balance. He still had contact with Robert’s right forearm, and Dave used the distraction to adjust his grip down to his opponent’s wrist, quickly pulling Wolford further off balance before reversing the motion and wrenching the joint in the opposite direction.

Wolford had no choice in the matter, and the momentum of the throw sent him sprawling to the mat. The wolf was no novice however, and he managed to break the hold before Dave could maneuver the arm into a proper lock.

Once the limb was free, Robert used the momentum to spin across the ground, trying to sweep Dave’s legs out from underneath him. Moving to take that head on would only lead to this turning into ground combat, and there, Wolford would have every advantage. Deciding discretion was the better part of valor he hopped back out of range as his opponent completed the spin and quickly regained his footing.

As Dave had been the one to break contact, he had forfeited the match, but neither combatant could be disappointed in their performance, and the two males broke out into smiles as they relaxed for a moment.

Dave shook his head, at the other wolf, “It’s been too long, Wolford,” he said jovially, having truly enjoyed the bout. It had been months since the two had been able to spar, and both knew that they could learn far more about themselves by facing off against another wolf, than they could training with other mammals; even other canids. It was obvious from the expressions on both their faces, that they had greatly enjoyed the chance to hone their skills together.

It was a consequence of the breadth of the Zootopia population, that one was a statistically guaranteed to be either significantly larger or smaller than your opponent, so mixed training was a must, _“but it’s always nice to see how you stack up against another member of your own species,”_ Dave thought to himself, as he went over the bout in his mind.

He had performed better than he had thought possible, and was somewhat proud at being able to hold his own. He shook out his limbs in preparation for a rematch, but paused briefly and saw that Robert was still in a relaxed stance, the older wolf chuckling to himself.

“You almost had me there, Doc,” Wolford said before offering his paw to Dave who grasped it, and was pulled into a rough hug.

Dave laughed as they separated, but rubbed his side where Wolford had managed to land a solid blow, “Damn, Wolford,” he winced as he applied pressure to the rib, but there didn’t seem to be any lasting damage. “You got me good there. All I managed was that tap to your temple after you tried that hip throw,”

Wolford laughed and brought his paw to his head, “Tap? That was a tap? I saw stars after that.” Robert cringed as he probed the location of the blow. “It was just dumb luck that I twisted out of the line of you knee. Another inch to the left, and I would’ve been singing soprano tonight,” he laughed at the memory, but then paused briefly, his expression thoughtful. “Why didn’t you press your advantage after the throw?”

Dave shook his head, “You’re the better ground fighter. I’d have been playing into your paws.”

Robert was about to reply, but then his ears twitched towards the rear of the salle. Both wolves looked over and saw that they had an audience, as both Grizzoli and Fangmeyer were staring wide-eyed at the two.

Dave noticed that Officers Hopps and Wilde hadn’t stopped their sparring, and were moving along at a good clip, but nowhere near where Dave thought that Judy was capable of from her reputation. It was obvious that she was the least comfortable with the drill, and it was clear that she _wanted_ to increase the distance between her and Wilde, but that would defeat the purpose of the exercise.

He could tell that Wilde was holding back, never willing to show an opponent all his cards at once, but he seemed to be doing a good enough job of keeping the rabbit on her toes, so Dave thought he would let it slide for now. They’d either swap partners in another ten minutes, or Carol would arrive and change up the entire game plan. For now the fox and rabbit were working well together, which made sense considering their partnership both on and off duty.

His attention was brought back to Grizzoli and Fangmeyer, when Wolford decided to bring the pair back down to this reality.  

“Slacking off, you two?” Wolford asked jovially, and the two partners snapped out of their reverie.

Grizzoli was the first to reply, “Spirits, Old Wolf! How much have you been holding back at the precinct?” he asked, not managing to keep a sense of awe out of his voice.

Both Dave and Robert laughed at the admission, and Wolford waved a paw dismissively. “Grizzoli, McHorn and I were some of Spitfire’s first ZPD students.” He motioned over to Dave before continuing, “Only the Doc here has been training with her for longer, and if you think that was fast, pray you never get paired with some of the ZAF trainers. What we just did was a lovely stroll in the park compared to what some of them can do.”

Fangmeyer shook her head at Robert. “We’re just surprised. The Doc, we can understand. He gets the honor of being Carol’s personal punching bag.” There was a pause as Robert chuckled at the comment, while Dave slightly reddened under his fur before the tigress continued, “But you? You’ve never pushed any of us that hard.”

Wolford shrugged and cocked his head to the side. “You wouldn’t learn much if all you did was eat gym mats.”  He motioned back towards the door with his right paw while shaking his head, “Do you really think that Latrans goes all out on any of us?” He smiled slightly, and then looked to Dave, “Well maybe you, Doc.”

Dave’s eyes widened as he slowly shook his head back and forth. “Nowhere near it, Robert. I’ve seen her _really_ train with the AMCQC trainers, and she’s never come close with me to what I saw then.”

Wolford gave a bark of laughter. “I’ll take your word for that,” he said and made a shooing motion with his paws towards Grizzoli and Fangmeyer. “Back to it you two. I want to see you move this time. No more playing around.”

He looked back to Dave, and once again took up a ready stance. “May I have this dance?” he asked mockingly as he extended his paw.  Once again, he and Dave touched forearms, and they began.

This time, they didn’t start slow. The two of them were already warmed up, and the previous bout had swept away the mental cobwebs that had taken hold after several months of disuse.

Dave once again focused on using speed to his advantage, but Wolford had obviously taken his comment regarding ground-fighting to heart, as he made several attempts to trip or otherwise take Dave to the mats. In each case, Dave had managed to twist out of Wolford’s paws, or strike the older wolf roughly to spoil his attempted throws and takedowns.

The two were once again moving in concert, blows and parries occurring at the edges of their perception. Things were moving far too quickly for conscious thought to form, and they reached the point of the drill, where touch was of more important than sight, and instinct more important than thinking.

They maintained at least one point of contact at all times, but as they became intertwined, legs became additional sources of information. Subtle changes in balance and posture telegraphed moves before the blows could be thrown. Both wolves were smiling behind their serious facades, each of them reveling in the challenge.

This was as much a part of wolf culture for them as it was training. Social hierarchies may have given way to modern society, but the instincts to push and test your position in the pack was always present. In this case, neither Robert nor Dave were dominant to each other...but that made their probing of each other even more cathartic.

Dave had just decided to ratchet up his speed another notch, when his concentration was shattered by a loud yelp. Both he and Wolford stopped instantly, and looked back towards Grizzoli and Fangmeyer. Ivan was on the ground, the white wolf cradling his muzzle in both paws.

Dave could see the red stain of fresh blood trickling out from between the wolf’s clenched paws, along with the metallic smell that had already started to tickle his sharp nose.  He moved to grab a towel from the stack against the wall and immediately made his way over to the wolf. Hopps, Wilde and Fangmeyer were already helping Grizzoli into a seated position, and Dave could see that it appeared to be a simple nosebleed.

In canines, these could be very bloody affairs; the extensive vasculature that helped to give them such acuity, also made for quite the mess when wounded. This one would probably bleed for a few minutes, and then the poor wolf would have some breathing issues for a day or so, but nothing more than that...provided that all of the bones were intact, and the damage was limited to the soft tissue.

He crouched down beside the injured wolf, and took Ivan’s muzzle in his free paw. “Let me take a look, Ivan,” he said confidently, and the other wolf blinked back tears as he pulled his paws away from his nose.

As expected, there was a good deal of blood smeared over his white fur. Dave angled the other wolf’s head back so that he could look down the nasal passages, and saw nothing more than some minor abrasions. Nodding to himself, he placed the towel in Grizzoli’s paw and pressed it against his nose.

“Keep your head tilted forward, and apply pressure with the towel,” he instructed as he began checking the officer’s vitals. Aside from a rapid heartbeat, there were no warning signs, and it looked to him that the other wolf had merely taken a strong blow to the snout. It was such a sensitive area for canids, that it was considered a main control point during combat. A sharp blow could stun or even incapacitate a wolf as their system was overwhelmed with pain, as well as confusing their normal sense of smell.

Wolford looked to Dave, who gave him a nod to indicate that it was only minor, and nothing to be worried about. He then rounded on Fangmeyer, wanting to get to the bottom of the incident, “What happened, Stripes?”

The tigress looked up from Grizzoli and Dave to face Robert before shrugging, “We were just going through the exercise, and decided to speed things up. I saw an opening and took it, but I guess I was moving just a bit too quickly.” She once again looked down at her partner, and winced seeing the red staining the towel. “Sorry, Ivan.”

Grizzoli waved a paw dismissively, and looked up at Robert, “Why are we even bothering with this shit?” he asked, his words partially muffled by the towel still pressed against his nose, but his frustration was plainly evident. “It’s not like this stuff ever gets used in the field.”

Dave motioned for Grizzoli to remove the towel, and he was pleased to see that the bleeding was almost staunched. He reached out and brought the other wolf’s paw up to his nose again before looking to Robert regarding Ivan’s question. He knew the answer already, but was curious how much information Carol had been sharing with her students.

Judy took that moment to chime in, “I agree with Grizzoli. This is fun practice and all, but getting up close and personal with a perp is the last thing I want to do.” The doe looked back towards her partner, who gave her a sideways glance before holding up his paws in supplication.

“Don’t look at me, Fluff,” the fox said smoothly. “I use this stuff all the time when we’re out and about. Not everyone follows your whirling dervish style of paw to paw.”

Wolford’s smile broadened at his comrade's comments, and he shook his head at the younger officers, “Well you’re wrong on that count, Grizzoli” he said succinctly. “Spitfire mentioned focusing on this stuff after the experience of some of ZAF soldiers doing sweep and clears overseas.”

He looked down at Grizzoli, who had lowered the towel from his nose, the final trickles of blood dripping onto his training sweats. The white wolf cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

“I’m not joking, kid,” he said and turned his focus towards Hopps, “and, Hopps, I’m actually disappointed in you.” He crossed his arms theatrically in front of his chest. “Out of all the mammals here, you’re the one who would benefit the most from this stuff.”

Aside from him and Robert, Dave could see the other officers trying to parse out the meaning of Wolford’s admonishment of them. Giving a small chuckle at his plight, he stood and offered a paw to Grizzoli to assist the other wolf in regaining his footing.

As he once again took the white wolf’s muzzle in his paws and checked on how the clotting was proceeding, he decided to let the confused mammals in on his and Robert’s secret.

“It comes down to visibility,” he said as he shifted Ivan’s muzzle and prodded it roughly, much to the discomfort of the other wolf. Once he was satisfied that his patient was on the mend, he continued on, “The troops found that, when working in low light areas, things inevitably moved into close combat,” he shrugged and looked to the assembled mammals. “I don’t have all the details, but it was enough for the AMCQC trainers to make this a focus.”

Robert nodded, obviously having been told the same information as he had been privy to. “This is just the start,” Wolford began, motioning towards the various melee weapons mounted on the wall. “The ZAF is focusing on knives and small arms, but the ZPD will be leaning on batons and close range tranqs.” A smile crested his grey muzzle as he chuckled at some inside joke. “For obvious reasons, Tasers are off the table.”

Dave joined in his laughter as he considered the consequences of engaging something like a Taser when you were in contact with the suspect, but he shook his head and motioned towards Judy. “For species with poor low light vision, being able to tell where your opponent is, and what they’re doing even when you’re effectively blind, is a major advantage.”

Wolford looked down at the rabbit officer, and cocked his head to the side in consideration of the rabbit’s options. “In the ZAF, it’s more the hoofed mammals that they’re concerned with, but your very...energetic style, is pretty well shot if you can’t see your target.” He motioned to Fangmeyer, “Out of the lot of us, Nadine’s the least likely to be affected, but the control options that Carol’s mentioned could make it worthwhile training for all of us.”

Dave looked between Hopps and Grizzoli, and he could tell that neither one was convinced. A glance towards Wolford told him that the older wolf had also caught onto their hesitancy, and there was a malicious twinkle in the grey wolf’s eyes as he looked towards Dave.

Realization dawned instantly, and Dave felt the pit of his stomach fall out. He held up his paws in a supplicating gesture, “Come on, Wolford, it’s been over a year since we practiced that stuff,” he said, hoping to convince the other wolf to abandon, what Dave knew, was a wonderfully flashy demonstration of what sticky paws could do...provided both of them walked away from it unscathed.

Robert shook his head, and motioned back to the front of the room, “After that demonstration from earlier? Unh-uh, Doc,” he said with both amusement and malice present in his voice in equal measure. “You’re better than you let on, and I want to see how far you can go.”

There was a snort of derision from Fangmeyer, and both Robert and Dave looked towards her with surprise on their faces.

“Oh, please, don’t let me get in the way of a pissing contest, boys,” she said dismissively, shaking her head at the pair.

“Hey now, Stripes,” Nick began, addressing the tigress with a mockingly severe tone. “Wolves can help but mark their territory.  There’s no reason to shame ‘em for it.”

Wolford raised an eyebrow at the comment before shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s rich coming from you, Wilde.” The older wolf made a show of sniffing the air around the todd. “Forget how to use musk-mask today?”

Nick merely smiled, and inhaled deeply through his nose. “And you’re very welcome,” he said, the smile never leaving his muzzle. “But there’s no need to thank me for it,” he added with a dismissive wave of his paw.  

Wolford gave a chuff of feigned anger. Perhaps he would have better luck besting Dave, so he resigned to retrieving two pieces of black cloth from a bin at the side of the salle. Tossing one to Dave, he moved to the front of the room and proceeded to tie it around his eyes, wrapping the fabric several times around his head to fully block out the light.

“No fucking way?” Grizzoli said as Dave gave a sigh of resignation and made his way to the stand opposite of Wolford, the other wolf tracking his movements by sound and smell.

Looking back at the other students, Dave pointed to the white plastic box affixed to the wall with a large red cross on the front. “Just as a reminder, the first aid kit is over there...we’re probably going to need it,” he said before covering his own eyes with the opaque cloth.

“Right next the AED,” Nick chuckled from the sidelines.

The fox’s jokes didn’t ease Dave’s apprehension, and only one thought was screaming through his head as he took up position and raised his arms into a fighting stance, once again letting his left forearm coming into contact with Robert’s.

_“What the fuck am I doing?”_

His hesitancy almost cost him the bout right from the get go. Wolford, having learned about Dave’s speed advantage from the previous fight, immediately moved in tight bringing his right forearm up in a vertical strike against Dave’s muzzle while simultaneously stepping forward, both to close the distance, but also to attempt to wrap his right leg around Dave’s left, trying to limit his mobility and keep the combat close.

He easily rotated out of the attempted trap, and the two traded blows and counter blows for what seemed like several minutes. The time dilation brought on by massive amounts of adrenaline singing through his veins meant that it had probably been no more than a pawful of seconds that had passed. Even without visual clues, both combatants were able to hold each other at bay, Wolford pressing Dave hard, and landing several glancing blows, as well as a strike to the side of his muzzle that brought with it the metallic tang of blood, and the buzz of more adrenaline flooding into his system.

At times, the strikes came in with little to no warning; at most a tingle on his whiskers a microsecond before contact.  The modern era had dulled his other senses, and they struggled to compensate for the complete removal of sight.

Far from being an idle punching bag, Dave managed to throw his own strikes that managed to connect with a frequency roughly equal to his opponents. In short order, he managed to score both a jab to the older wolf’s jaw, as well as paying back Robert for the shot to his own ribs during the last bout.

Having just parried Wolford’s latest combination, Dave felt the shift in Robert’s posture the moment the other wolf started moving, and he rotated counterclockwise, managing to both disentangle his leg, which had been jammed up during the last pass, but also move just far enough out of the line of attack of the vertical forearm strike that he felt the wind of its passage ruffle the fur of his chin. He immediately reversed his momentum and stepped in, bringing his right paw up, and coming up underneath Robert’s errant blow.

As soon as he made contact with the limb, he disengaged his left arm and quickly brought it up under Wolford’s bent left elbow, swapping his paws as he felt the contact, his right paw whipping up and over to grasp onto the wrist of the bent appendage. He could already feel Robert attempting to rotate out of the hold before Dave could apply any real leverage to it, so Dave quickly feinted bringing his left elbow up into the other wolf’s jaw. Striking the other wolf directly in the snout.

The blow lacked the power to have any real force, but it was merely a distraction as he drove his left knee into Robert’s abdomen, eliciting an explosion of breath from the other wolf. This was quickly followed by a throaty growl, as Wolford’s right fist slammed into Dave’s side, driving hard into his floating ribs. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to transition his grip into a submission hold, Dave anticipated that the other wolf was drawing back for another blow and simultaneously shot his left paw down in a circle block. He felt it connect and deflect the oncoming punch, and he maintained contact, while continuing the circular motion and striking out with his right palm hitting Wolford in the solar plexus, and once again driving the wind out of the other wolf’s lungs.

Robert didn’t take this attack lying down, and Dave’s right ear and temple were hammered with an open palm strike from Wolford’s left paw. Fortune favored Dave, as the blow had been slightly off target, mitigating its potentially devastating effects on both his balance and hearing. He pressed the advantage, and capitalizing on Robert’s poor aim.

Knowing that speed was still his major advantage, he smiled as he quickly shifted his grip on Wolford’s right arm, while pulling the other wolf in close and bringing his free arm up and under Robert’s armpit while jamming his hip in close to his opponent’s. Robert was still struggling to breath, and his perception was dulled just enough that he failed to notice Dave’s change in stance before the older wolf was flipped up and over Dave’s shoulder in a textbook throw. He thought back to when Carol had performed this very technique on him this past Monday...albeit with a rather different follow through. Even as Dave followed Robert down to the mats, his right arm cocked back, the digits of his paw ramrod straight.

 _“I guess you can teach an old wolf new tricks.”_ he thought, as his ears registered a low grunt as Wolford hit the floor. Gauging the distance, and Dave struck out swiftly, but made sure to pull the blow long before it landed. The final few inches, he moved in at a more controlled pace, until his clawtips came to rest on Wolford’s throat, applying just enough pressure to make the _point_.

A croaked “Fuck!” was all that could be heard from Wolford as he still struggled to breath. Just before Dave could remove his blindfold and help the other wolf to his feet, a slow clapping began from the front of the salle.

He unwrapped the cloth from around his eyes, and after blinking a few times to adjust to the light, he immediately felt his stomach sink. A quiet whimper came from Wolford, and Dave looked down to see that the officer had also removed his blindfold and was looking at the new arrivals, an equally fearful expression on his face.

Carol had arrived at some point during the sparring match, and Dave could see her approval of his and Wolford’s performance. At any other time, he would have been elated that he had met her standards, but when he cast his gaze over the other mammals she had brought, he knew that the pain in his ribs would shortly be little more than a pleasant memory.

Carol had brought the core contingent of the ZAF AMCQC trainers. Quite literally the best paw-to-paw combatants in the military. Dave recognized all of them, and the smile on Captain Taft’s muzzle showed that he saw the expression on both Dave and Robert’s face for what they were, ones of utter terror. The lion gave a small chuckle, but deferred to the smaller mammal in front of him.

The slow clap was coming from a honey badger in full fatigues. The mammal’s face was a veritable roadmap of scars, and the expression on his face was fixed in a perpetual scowl. Both Dave and Wolford had had the...pleasure of training with Gunnery Sergeant Willis in the past, and neither of them was looking forward to the upcoming session.

“Well now, don’t you two just dance so perty,” he said while shaking his head at the two wolves. “Latrans, is this what you’re teaching these civvies? And here I thought you were training them to fight.”

Carol snorted dismissively before stepping forward, “Save it, Gavin, and what’s with the hick accent?” she asked, looking back at her comrade, a wry smile on her muzzle. “You were born and raised in Happy Town, and the only time I’ve ever seen you on a farm was when you shacked up with that farmer’s daughter outside of Valencott...well at least I saw you there when you were running for your life from said farmer.”

Taft gave a low rumble of laughter at the comment, and shook his head at the badger, “The scandal of that day will live on for decades, Gunny. A marine having to take shelter with an army recon unit,” the mocking but friendly derision that filled John’s voice would have been plain, even absent his toothy grin. “How could you so debase yourself?”

Willis’ expression was one of supreme innocence, as he took up a rest position, paws clasped behind his back. “I don’t know what you mean, Sir?” he said, the faux accent vanishing as he addressed his superior. “I made use of the available resources to defuse a situation with a civilian, and, with all due respect, Sir, considering I ended up marrying that girl, I consider the honor of the corps as being intact.”

The assembled soldiers chuckled at the shared memory, before Carol clapped her paws together to get everyone’s attention.

“Okay everyone, enough joking around. We’ve got some…” she trailed off and swept her gaze over Dave and the ZPD officers, that malicious twinkle once again burning in her eyes. “deficiencies to address.”

She motioned to her fellow trainers with one paw. “For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, this is Captain John Taft, the CO of the AMCQC development initiative, Gunnery Sergeant Gavin Willis, ZMC, Corporal Colleen Lupe, another Jarhead for the mix.”

Dave cocked his head in confusion. He had known the maned wolf for a few years now, and up until last month, she had been Sergeant Lupe. Carol must have seen his expression, as she gave a bark of laughter at her mates look.

“Lupe, spare Dave the confusion. What did you do to lose your stripes this time?” Carol asked, the amusement plainly evident in her voice.

The maned wolf shrugged. “Navy sea dogs can’t hold their liquor, Latrans. I didn’t start it, but I damn well ended it,” she shrugged again and her expression was more prideful than anything else. “The brass wasn’t too upset either; they only knocked me down one grade this time,” she said, motioning to the two chevrons and crossed rifles insignia present on her uniform.

There was a rumble of laughter from the soldiers, with Gunny Willis holding up a fist, which Corporal Lupe bumped with her own. “Oorah, Gunnery Sergeant!” she added in the traditional Marine battle cry.

The badger nodded approvingly, seemingly both at her...extracurricular activities, as well as with her attitude. “Oorah, Corporal,” he replied after a moment, “and you’ll have those stripes back within the month if I have anything to say about it.”

Carol rolled her eyes at the two marines before finishing her introductions, “And last up, Warrant Officer Miles Argent, a fellow Ranger,” the slim cheetah merely cocked his head slightly as he observed the ZPD officers before his gaze fixed on Dave. Resentment was plainly evident in that stare, and Dave shook his head and sighed.

 _“It’s been seven years. You’d think he’d be over it.”_ Dave thought to himself. He and the cheetah had been inadvertent rivals from the get go. Unbeknownst to Dave, Miles had held a candle for Carol for years, even though she had never reciprocated his feelings. To make matters worse, the cheetah _had_ received the approval of Carol’s dad...about a month after he and Carol had started dating each other. Dave had always suspected that the Major’s approval was more to try and drive Carol and him apart, than any actual approval of the cheetah for his daughter.

To say that things had gone from awkward to a simmering hostility in a _very_ short time, was an understatement.

Carol took in both their expressions, and sighed slightly before continuing. “All of you are the best AMCQC practitioners outside of the ZAF,” she said looking at each of them in turn. She paused when her gaze met Dave’s, and that twinkle of amusement was still present when she saw the wide-eyes surprise written on his features. “Over the past year, we have been paying close attention to how each of you have adapted the common moves into your own styles, and by and large we applaud your ability to play to your individual strengths.”

She paused briefly before continuing. “As part of this, we have also identified areas where each of you have attempted to deal with your weaknesses by shuffling them off to the side, and mostly forgetting about them. That ends NOW!”

Her change in tone was instant, and every mammal present stood straighter in response. “Today you will be shown where you need to improve, and my friends here will be pointing out those weaknesses to you...repeatedly.”

Carol looked back at the ZAF personnel, “Lupe, you get Wolford as your new chew toy. Argent, Fangmeyer AND Grizzoli are yours to do with as you please. Captain Taft, you’re with Dave. Don’t break him too much if you can help it. I have plans for him later tonight. Gunny, I trust you know what to do with Wilde?”

The badger’s smile showed far too many teeth to ever be confused with the word friendly, as he looked the fox up and down. “Oh, I think I can handle this, Latrans.”

Nick cocked an eyebrow and looked at the marine for a few moments before holding up his paws apologetically. “I’m flattered, Carol, but I’m afraid that he’s just not my type,” he said in an obviously mocking tone, and Dave flinched internally, knowing full well the abilities of the Gunnery Sergeant.

The badger’s scarred grin never left his muzzle, and he sauntered over to the fox seemingly unperturbed by Wilde’s comment.

Carol gave snort of amusement, then looked towards the final ZPD officer, and theatrically cracked her knuckles. “And Hopps, you and I are going to have some fun today.”

The various mammals split up into their assigned pairs or threesomes. Dave approached Taft, and offered his paw to the larger mammal. “Good to see you again, John.”

Taft gave a low rumble of a laugh as he took Dave’s paw in his own. “Give it a few minutes, I bet I can change your mind on that,” he said, but there was no malice in his voice. John wasn’t the type of officer who mammals followed out of fear, and he was the type who took the mentoring part of his duties seriously.

The lion motioned with his head to the other mammals, some of which had already begun sparring...well tried to at least. Just as Dave looked up, he saw Willis full on spit in Wilde’s stunned face just before moving in and quickly taking the todd down to the ground.

Gunny Willis was a firm believer in the, _if it works it’s not cheating_ , school of combat. From his knowledge of the fox, he knew that Wilde had a similar reputation for fighting dirty, but Willis had quite literally written the book on the subject. Over the years, Carol and the other AMCQC trainers had spent a lot of time going over how often improvisation came up in the heat of the moment. Mundane objects were transformed into weapons out of necessity, and Gavin was a true artist at being exceptionally creative in the field.

Taft gave a chuckle and nodded approvingly at Willis’ takedown, and then looked back to Dave, “So have you given some thought on what _your_ weakness is?” he asked, the amusement still flavoring his words. “From your performance earlier, I think you already have an idea about one of them.”

Dave gave it some thought before replying, “I still don’t think I should be here, if that’s what you’re getting at,” he said motioning back towards the other students. His eyes were drawn to Carol who was moving so quickly, it was nearly impossible to keep track of her blows. She was harrying Officer Hopps around the rear of the salle. The rabbit was desperately trying to create distance, but the coyote wouldn’t give her an inch.

“Look at them,” he continued after a moment. “I’ll admit that sparring with Wolford showed that I have made progress, but in the end I’m just a civilian.” Dave paused and looked back at John. The lion had a thoughtful expression on his face, and motioned for Dave to continue. “For them, this stuff can be life or death. For me? It’s a chance to help out Carol with something she loves.”

The lion gave another rumble of laughter before replying, “The shrinks had you pegged perfectly, Dave,” he said without malice and Dave cocked his head in confusion. John smiled and shook his head at the wolf before waving a paw dismissively, “We’ve had an ongoing file on you since you started dating Carol, and particularly once you were allowed to start training. Merely for national security purposes, you see. The consistent diagnosis, _imposter syndrome_.”

“Imposter syndrome?” Dave asked quizzically, “It is very common in scientific and medical fields, particularly when…” His words trailed off as his thoughts came to a screeching halt as he went back of the events of the past week, and his interaction with the Rey’s in particular.

 _“Oh shit! He’s right.”_ The thought was like a clarion, and something of it must have showed plainly in his expression, as John once again laughed at the situation.

“You’re the type of mammal who is surrounded by the best of the best every day,” Taft said, the smile never leaving his muzzle. “We didn’t dig too deeply into your co-workers at the Honeywell Centre, but even the basic screening showed that universally all the staff there represent the some of the best in the medical field. You probably know more than I do how rare it is to have so many individuals with such a breadth of training in one place, yet those are the mammals you interact with every day. There’s also the little detail that you’re literally responsible for your patient’s lives, and believe me, I know what a burden that kind of responsibility can be,” the lion paused, and Dave could see the truth in the big cat’s eyes. “To hold the life of another mammal in your paws makes you doubt every decision that you’ve made to reach that point. In the end, you _have_ to make a call...you just pray it’s the right one, but that doubt is always there.”

Dave considered the lion’s words, and Taft motioned with his head over to where Carol had literally backed Officer Hopps into a corner. The rabbit tried to leap above the coyote’s head and make space, only for Carol to easily latch onto one of her feet, and slam her into the ground, transitioning the fight into ground work.

“Then, after a day of that, you come here, and spend most of your time training with Carol, and between you and me, it’s either her or Gunny that represent the best of the mid-sized mammals in the ZAF.” John, took a step away from Dave, and maneuvered into a loose combat stance. “You’re better than you think, but you don’t get a chance to see that for yourself very often, and that’s something that we’d like to address in the future.”

The smile faded from Taft’s muzzle, and Dave could see the lion shift from mentor to soldier. “Now, we can address the other deficiency that we’ve identified with you. You have been spending too much time with opponents of a similar to smaller body type. Fortunately, that deficiency is much easier to address directly.”

Fortunately, Dave had seen where this particular training session would be headed, and had taken up a defensive stance as soon as he had seen John’s expression change. Even though he was prepared for the attack, _in theory_ , he was still taken aback by the ferocity of the lion’s movement. Captain Taft wasn’t anywhere near as fast as Carol, or any of the other trainers currently present, but he didn’t need to be. He had size, strength and reach as his advantages, and he used them to ruthless efficiency. When sparring with Carol, those were _his_ main advantages, but now the tides were turned, and Taft wasted no time in showing how reliant Dave had been on those advantages.

The lion began with a relentless flurry of blows, punches and kicks, keeping Dave well outside of his own effective range, and each hit hammering into the wolf’s defenses. Straight up blocking was proven ineffective; a simple attempt to stop a side kick to the abdomen on braced forearms, serving only to launch Dave almost two meters straight back, his claws scrabbling on the mats for purchase.

John cocked his head to the side at his opponent. “Head on isn’t always the answer, Doctor,” was all he said though a controlled pant before once again moving in. Dave, whose panting was less reserved, tried to make use of the sagely piece of wisdom, attempting to leverage his speed to get closer to John, and jam up his attacks. He was only partially successful, as his opponent simply shifted styles, and made brutally effective use of elbows and knees now that the range was too short for full strikes.

Dave did manage to land several blows, but each was like hitting a solid wall. The lion’s physique was honed through decades of training and exertion, and Dave soon realized that simply landing a blow wouldn’t be enough. Attrition wasn’t going to be the winning strategy here; he needed a precision strike where the body was weakest. Luckily for him, precision was probably his biggest strength.

It was a tactic that Carol had taught him repeatedly over the years, but he had tucked it away in favor of his own preferred style of combat. Against an opponent like Carol or Wolford, just hitting the foe was enough. He had the strength to injure or incapacitate mammals of a similar size, but against a larger mammal? His blows were utterly useless.

He saw a small glimmer of amusement in Taft’s eyes as he tried to capitalize on this new information, but the lion was still the better fighter...by far. The sparring match became much like his usual experience with Carol. He made admirable efforts at landing blows, while John slapped away each with ease, before moving in and using his greater size to its full effect, sending Dave to the mats again, and again.

During one of these impromptu voyages, Dave’s mind floated back to his last sparring match with Carol, and he was at a loss as to how she managed to get past him with such ease.

 _“How the fuck, can she get in and out so fast?”_ was still running through his head when he hit the mats. His body instinctively flattening out to spread the impact over as large a surface area as possible. No answers were forthcoming, and as he sprang back to his feet, only one possible solution could be found. _“I just have to be even quicker,”_ he thought as he lunged back towards Captain Taft.

* * *

 If overcoming their personal weaknesses had really had been that easy, it wouldn’t have taken the combined efforts of the core AMCQC instructor cadre to instill these details into the students. Dave had at least identified several obvious areas where he could improve, but it would be a long time before he could relearn a lifetime of compensation and avoidance.

John had been relentless towards the canine, and every time that Dave managed to work his way past the cat’s offense, he was quick to transition back to a strategy of defensive that may as well been a steel reinforced bunker. Dave had quickly learned to target the various pressure points found on every joint and elsewhere, but targeting them, and hitting them were two very different things, and for the AMCQC instructors, not being hit was a reflex that had been drilled into them during years of actual combat. Dave only had recreational sparring to draw experience from.

As had been expected when he had first laid eyes on the _friends_ that Carol had brought, Dave spent an inordinate amount of time picking himself up from the mats. Surprisingly enough, Taft had caused fewer actual injuries than his rounds with Wolford had. The lion may have been significantly larger, but the difference in control was phenomenal. Every blow he managed to block was backed by more than enough force to cause real damage, but every one that made it past his defenses landed with little more than a tap.  Like the way he had finished off Wolford, John just wanted him to know he was beat, not actually beat him.

Wolford’s experience began with him apparently overmatching Corporal Lupe quite handily. The smaller female was buffeted by blows, and Robert’s strikes seemed to leave her struggling to remain upright. It was only when the other wolf had started pulling his punches, and taken to moving more slowly that Lupe struck out. She had been waiting for him to ‘ _start taking it easy on her’_ , as this was a consistent pattern that had been identified in his service records.

It was surprising in a way that, after so many years training with Carol, Wolford had a history of using a light paw against smaller mammals. That _weakness_ had even resulted in his being injured in the line of duty when he had neglected to disarm a weasel under arrest for assault. If the suspect looked or acted weak, he consistently used less than his full efforts, and it put his safety at risk.

As if a switch had been thrown, Lupe was moving like a force of nature, hammering blow after blow into her opponent. To his credit, Robert quickly realized the ruse, and tried to recover, but he was quickly outmatched, and was all too soon nursing his bruises while sitting at the side of the salle.

Miles Argent had fun with his two ZPD officers. Grizzoli and Fangmeyer were both skilled fighters, but they were also overconfident, and thought that they were the ones “playing” with their prey. When they were matched up with a single instructor, it should have been a warning, but they obviously missed the message, and were completely unprepared when the cheetah proved to be extremely adept at using them _against_ each other.

The big cat was fast; far faster than even Dave had suspected from their previous encounters. He had expertly redirected their attacks to interfere with each other’s movements. His own blows were designed to push them off balance so that he would have a few uninterrupted seconds to launch devastating combinations against the other partner.

The three had spent almost the entire time in motion, with Fangmeyer being the first to tire. As soon as it became obvious that she wasn’t a threat any longer, Argent had quickly taken her down with a rapid fire combination of blows to her knees, followed up by an open pawed strike to the throat. From there, it had been a matter of seconds before Ivan had joined his partner on the mats.

Hopps’ deficiency had been obvious to everyone there, even before Carol’s arrival. Rumor had it that the bunny was considered the demon of Precinct One in the ring, but she relied on her mobility and speed. Against almost all opponents, it was the right strategy, as any blow from a larger mammal could be dangerous...even fatal, but when paired with an opponent who was unwilling to surrender range, this style quickly fell apart.

She was fast, and the rabbit did manage to land several blows of her own, but she simply couldn’t maintain any momentum with the equally fast coyote harrying her at every turn. Carol, took every opportunity she could to take Hopps down to the mats, showing her over and over just how easily her chosen style could be turned against her.

To no one’s surprise, Hopps never once gave in, and even when she was on the verge of passing out from a choke hold, she had still struggled to free herself. Carol was experienced enough to recognize her condition fortunately, and had released the choke before the rabbit actually lost consciousness; immediately motioning for Dave to come over and check on the doe’s condition. Even as he approached, he could see that his skills wouldn’t be needed, as Judy weakly waved him off after a bout of coughing wracked her small frame.

It had been a bit of a shock when Hopps recovered further, and looked Carol straight in the eyes and asked, “Ready for another round?”

At first there were rumbles of laughter from the assembled mammals...all except for Carol and Judy. The coyote had smiled at the question, and rose to her feet, offering a paw to Hopps to help her up. Judy had simply snorted in amusement, and sprang back up under her own power, if somewhat unsteady on her paws. Both females had taken a few moments to shake out their limbs, but then as if on some shared signal, they once again began their whirlwind of attacks against each other.

If anything, Officer Wilde received the worst of the lot, and his revelatory moment had involved an exquisite amount of pain. Dave knew from the match between Wilde and Zephyr on Tuesday that the fox was a tactician, who preferred misdirection and guile over straightforward force while fighting. As it turned out, the problem was that he was also _very_ confident in his abilities; to such a degree that he would stop when he _thought_ his opponent was out of the fight.

Unfortunately, this was something that could be exploited, which Gunny Willis had done spectacularly. It was obvious that Wilde was having difficulty landing blows on the badger; the difference in training between the two was still substantial, whatever talents the fox possessed. Both of them made ruthless use of every dirty tactic you could think of. Gouges, pinching, spitting, even a bite or two; everything was flying from the pair, and it looked like Wilde had actually won a round when he managed to land a full on front snap kick into Willis’ crotch.

As soon as the blow landed, the fox had taken a step back and looked towards his partner, who was taking a breather from her bouts with Carol. He should have noted that Carol’s reaction to his grandstanding was to slap a paw over her eyes and shake her head, but he did not...and took Gunny’s uppercut right into his own groin.

There was a shared hiss of breath from every mammal in the room as Nick involuntarily hunched forward, wide eyed with pain and shock radiating from his face. Unlike Wilde, Gavin did not pause to admire his handiwork. He struck out again with a palm blow to the Nick’s lowered jaw, followed by a quick knee to the abdomen. He then roughly took down the now heaving fox with a hip throw, maintaining a grip on Nick’s arm, and transitioning it into a hyperextended joint lock.

“And this is why you always follow through, Wilde,” Gunny said with that permanent scowl still on his muzzle. “The big C took care of that little vulnerability for me a couple of years ago.”

The marine had calmly held the lock until Wilde’s breathing slowed, and the fox tapped out on the mat. Once his limb was free, he rolled onto his side with both paws clutching his groin.

The badger then squatted down beside his student and continued, “You’re good, Wilde, but never forget that, until the perp is in cuffs, unconscious, or _dead_ , they are a threat to you, and everyone else.” The grizzled soldier’s voice took on a kinder tone, and every mammal in the room could recognize the sense of loss that it held, “I’ve lost too many friends who were sure their targets were down, only to end up with a knife in their ribs when they’ve looked away. For your sake, and for your partner’s: BE SURE!”

It had been a sobering lesson for everyone there.

After only twenty minutes, Dave and the ZPD officers were a collection of panting and bruised mammals. The story had been similar for all of them, and in the aftermath, Dave thought that all of the students were somewhat wiser for the experience. For some of them, overcoming their weaknesses would be easier than others, but once the instructors were done pointing out their flaws...repeatedly, they had given the students a chance to rest while they conferred with each other.

Dave was leaning against the wall where the ZPD officers were taking stock of their injuries. Ivan’s nose had started bleeding again courtesy of an awkwardly landing provided by Argent when had had finally decided to stop playing with his prey, and put the wolf out of his misery. Officer Wilde was still gingerly limping in a small circle on the carpet with Judy at his side, somewhat concerned at his nearly continual grimace of pain. Dave had already surreptitiously ensured that the fox didn’t have any lasting damage, after the todd had given him a pleading look from the side of the salle, where he had been hunched over in obvious distress.

On the doctor/patient awkwardness scale, it only ranked about a four given their shared suffering during the evening’s tortures, but aside from some...significant short term tenderness, he’d be fine in a couple of hours.

If anything, it looked like Gunny Willis would have more to fear from Ms. Hopps in the near future, as the rabbit had not been impressed with the condition of her partner after his bout. She had taken her own beating at Carol’s paws stoically, but her control appeared to run out when Nick was hurt. Even while helping Nick move about, her eyes repeatedly sought out the badger, who was gathered with the other AMCQC instructors, with a gaze that would have reduced whole cities to ash if such a thing were possible.

Fortunately, aside from all of their pride, that was the extent of the injuries that had been inflicted upon them. After about five minutes, Captain Taft and Carol broke away from where the instructors were meeting, and made their way over to the students, who tiredly rose to some form of attention, although a dismissive snort from Gunny Wills, and the chuckles from the others spoke volumes as to their actual appearance.

The lion clapped his paws together, and his familiar smile was plastered on his muzzle as he spoke, “Good work, everyone. I know you probably don’t feel that way right now, but you all did extremely well,” Taft paused and took a moment to look over each of the students before continuing. “It’s almost never a pleasant experience to have your weaknesses pointed out; to say nothing of being shown exactly how those weaknesses can be used against you.” He motioned back towards the other trainers. “This is something that we’ve all been through, and there isn’t a single mammal who’s been through the full training regime who has managed to avoid this particular module.”

There were several chuckles from around the salle, and Dave noticed that both Corporal Lupe and Carol were rubbing their sides, probably from some form of phantom pain brought about by their own memories of this particular event. The moment passed quickly, and John continued.

“As to why all of you were brought forward for this, congratulations! You represent the first group of non-ZAF personnel to make the cut for advanced training,” he gave the group a brief nod and made a motion towards the ZDP officers with one paw. “For most of you, this will involve some additional training sessions, as well as instruction on more of the military variants of the techniques you already know. As AMCQC is still being developed on the fly, your insight into how we can better share techniques between the various organizations, and pin down what works best for a given situation.”

Taft paused, and gave a small chuckle as he pointed a thumb over his shoulder back towards the other instructors. “Also, you’ll be starting down the path to becoming instructors yourselves. There are only so many of us, the training of future ZPD recruits will eventually fall to you.”

At this point, John looked directly at Dave. “For you, Doctor Hawthorne, things are a bit different. We know that this isn’t, and can’t be your real focus. Your work at the Honeywell Centre needs to take priority over everything else.”

“Not quite everything, Captain,” Carol said jokingly, and there was a brief round of laughter from everyone.

John tilted his head in acknowledgement of the jibe and continued on, “Duly noted. Your work at the Honeywell Centre needs to take priority over _almost_ everything else.” He looked over to Carol, who gave a slight bow indicating that she was mollified by his correction.

Looking back to Dave, the lion continued, “We know it’s only a matter of time before this type of training gets out into the public, and in many ways, you’re the best example we have on what the consequences are going to be.” His expression became a bit more contemplative for a moment before he continued, “In some ways, the fact that you’ve reached a level where you do qualify for advanced training is worrying to some over in Central Command, but trained civilians are going to start appearing weather we want it or not. Trained officers retire into private sector roles specifically because of their training all the time. Showing their buddies a few tips here and there will just be the beginning. Even under if classified, we would never be able to hunt down every video of these techniques in use.  Eventually, it will get out, and this is something that the ZPD in particular needs to be prepared for.”

John allowed the smile to return to his face and he held up both paws and shrugged, “So congratulations, Doctor. You’ve officially become the test bed for the worst possible outcome; a civilian skilled in both the ZPD and ZAF versions of AMCQC. You’ll be going through the same training as the rest…”

Dave raised a paw to interject, but John waved him off, “all contingent on scheduling off course. I was being truthful when I said we recognize that your role is as a physician first…” Taft paused again and glanced down at the sound of Carol clearing her throat, and saw that she looking at him, and tapping a hind paw against the floor in mock irritation, “Make that second,” he hastily corrected, “but we do value whatever contributions you can make.”

Dave considered John’s words for a moment. He could see the underlying reasons, but he would need to speak with Carol later about the time commitments. John was honest to a fault, and there probably wouldn’t be any conflicts between his personal and professional life, but he would need some assurances from the ZAF. The thought of just any mammal getting this kind of training wasn’t a pleasant thought, but the lion was right, it was inevitable. He had undergone a fairly thorough background check before he had been allowed to formally begin training with Carol, but that wouldn’t be the case forever.

Having made his decision, he nodded towards John, “If I can help out just by continuing to be the proverbial punching bag, I’m good with that,” he said, and the lion’s smile grew wider as he tipped his head in acknowledgement.

John spread his paws apart, motioning towards all the students with a sweeping gesture, “Now that that’s out of the way, we’ll wrap things up for tonight.” He looked down a Carol before continuing, “Is the tradition of a couple of pints at Mac’s after training still the norm?”

Carol had a smirk on her muzzle as she looked up at Taft, “That it is, and the first round’s on you, Captain. Rank hath its privileges, and all that jazz.”

She looked back towards the students and Dave could see in her eyes that she was proud of each one. “You all did very well today. Like Captain Taft said, having someone point out where you suck is never fun, but all of you took steps to improve tonight. It’s not going to be easy going forward, but I know that you all will succeed.  And if not, I will personally kick each and every one of your asses! Now get yourselves cleaned up, and we’ll meet at Mac’s.” The smile on her muzzle did detract from the threat however, and the assembled mammals laughed, as they started gathering up their things.  

The students and trainers began to exit the salle and head for the changing rooms. Before he could leave, Carol motioned for Dave to lend her a paw cleaning things up, and he moved to start putting the salle back into some semblance of order. He was quickly interrupted, by a gentle paw on his arm, and when he turned to face Carol, she wrapped him in an embrace.

“Another bad day, Dave?” she asked quietly as she held onto him, and he sighed and nodded before returning the embrace. “I could see it as soon as I walked into the salle. You’re never that aggressive unless you’ve lost someone.”

“Yeah...really bad, Carol. Really bad.” was all he said. Some of the emotion he had been compressing all day began to well up inside him, and he felt her hold tighten on him in response. He took another deep breath and looked down at his mate. Her green eyes were filled with kindness and understanding as she said nothing, and just held on to him.

He smiled and freed up one of his paws to cup her cheek before bending over and placing a brief kiss on her muzzle. As he straightened back up he tightened his embrace briefly before once again meeting her gaze. “Tonight really helped though. I needed to get my mind on something else...even if that something else was getting my tail whipped repeatedly.”

Carol smiled at his words, “I’m proud of how you did tonight. Not just with Taft, but that drill with Wolford. You took some real hits...and don’t think I’m going to let that slide, but you did well.” She released her grip on him, and proceeded to look him over from head to toe before wagging a digit at him in reproach. “And no more of this thinking you’re not good enough to be here! Now let’s get things cleaned up,” she said with a wry smirk on her face. “The girls will probably be out of the change room by the time we’re done, so we’ll have the place to ourselves.” Converting her voice to mere whisper, she moved her muzzle closer to his ear. “And I can think of _many_ ways to taking your mind off of work.”

She pulled back and Dave could see a smile spread across her muzzle and she reached up to wrap her arms around Dave’s neck and pulled him down into a longer kiss. She hummed appreciatively at the act before pulling away. “We don’t have time for anything too racy, but I have been wanting to get my paws on you all day, and I’m not letting you out of my sight until we get home.”

Dave, who suddenly realized just how much his tail was wagging, laughed at and returned his mate’s smile. “The feeling is mutual, Love, and I’d be lying if I wasn’t just a _liiiittle_ tempted to skip out on Mac’s tonight, but we can hold on for a few hours,” he paused briefly, his own eyes ranging over his mate, “...probably, hold out at least.”

Carol gave a snort of laughter, and started reorganizing things. Dave started putting away some of the weapons that the ZPD officers had been using before he arrived. While he was locking up the closet with the replica firearms, he was reminded of an obligation he would need to perform tomorrow evening.

“Oh, Carol,” he called out, and the coyote looked back at him with a load of towels in her arms. “I’m going to be a bit late getting home tomorrow.” He paused for a moment to collect himself. “I need to drop something off in the Rainforest District for a patient.”

The smile faded from Carol’s face, and she placed the towels on the ground before walking over to where Dave was standing. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards as she forced a smile onto her face, but he could see in her eyes that she already knew why he was going to be late.

She sighed, and reached up to cup his cheeks in her paws before speaking. “No more of this, Dave,” she said, and there was both conviction and sadness in her voice. “There are parts of our jobs that we can’t share with each other, but not this. I’m not letting you face this alone. I’m picking you up at seven, end of story.”

Dave started to raise a paw to protest, but Carol simply shook her head in reply. “Not this time, and never again. We’re in this together you sweet wolf.” She once again wrapped her arms around him, and drew him into an embrace. “I’ll stay in the car, so you don’t have to go on and on about ‘doctor patient confidentiality’,” she said in as mocking an approximation of Dave’s voice as she could manage, “but I’ll be right there...and you know you’ll need me. Every time you do this, Dave, you hurt yourself so badly.” She paused momentarily, and looked up into his eyes, where he could easily read the remembered pain from the previous times he had to fulfil this duty. “It’s like you come back missing a piece of...I don’t know, yourself, your soul? Let me be there for you, please.”

It was that final pleading request that made his shoulders sag in defeat, but he wrapped his arms around his mate, and held her close. There was no more getting around how entangled they were in each other’s lives now, and just as he felt every bit of her pain, he knew she felt every bit of his. He squeezed her tighter, and gave in, “Fine. You win...and thanks for being there.”

She released her hold on him but ran her paws down his arms as she looked up at him, and a real smile played across her muzzle. “Always,” she said simply before finally letting him go, and busying herself with getting the salle back in order.

* * *

 It didn’t take them long, but Carol had been correct in her assumption that the ZPD and ZAF mammals had been quick to clean up and head over to Mac’s, and the two canines luxuriated in the heat of a shared shower. As promised, there were many things that Carol could do to take his mind off of work, and the gentle massage that she provided began to work out the knots that both training and his day at the Centre was evidence of this. She worked her paws over his limbs, chest, and back, easing the knots that had formed until he felt as though he could barely remain standing.

All too soon the ministrations ceased, and the pair switched their focus on making sure their fur was clean and ready for a night out. As Carol worked her paws over the fur of his chest, she frowned slightly, and rubbed a tuft between her digits. “What have you done to your fur, Dave? It’s as brittle as straw,” she asked, already reaching for one of the many fur products that she kept close at paw.

Dave chuckled quietly at her tone and shrugged, “I’ve been in and out of the lab a lot these past few days. Decontamination protocols don’t exactly place a priority on preventing split ends.”

Carol snorted in reply, and began working a conditioner that smelled of lavender into his fur. “Yeah, well, I have to sleep next to you, and I want my fluffy pillow back, mister; not some freakishly large porcupine!”

He couldn’t help but laugh at his mate’s distress over the state of his coat, but then his thoughts came to a screeching halt. “Wait, _fluffy pillow_? You really do think I’m soft, Love?” He couldn’t hope to hide the humor in his voice, and Carol looked up at him and shook her head, while ruffling the fur on his neck and chest.

“You’re ruff, silly wolf,” she said while she worked to bring the offending coat back to an acceptably _fluffy_ state. “You know I like using your chest as a pillow,” she shrugged as she proceeded to work the conditioner into the fur on his head, and he crouched down slightly to make the task easier. “The sound of your heartbeat; it helps me sleep.”

Dave chuckled slightly at the admission, and he reached out and wrapped his arms around Carol. Placing one paw behind her head, he pulled her in close, until her cheek rested against his chest. She sighed and closed her eyes as her ear twitched and listened to that low lub-dub of his heart for a moment. Dave rocked her gently from side to side as the water cascaded down onto them.

“My heart already belongs to you, Carol,” he said, and she opened her eyes to look up into his. He smiled warmly at her, before releasing his embrace, and cupping her cheeks in his paws. “You can do with it whatever you wish.”

Carol shook her head at her mate before pulling his head down into a deep kiss. When their muzzles broke apart, there was a small giggle from the coyote, and she shook her head at Dave. “Spirits, Dave, that was cheesy, but it was also one of the sweetest things I’ve ever been told.” She took his right paw in her own, and placed it over her own chest. “I can’t very well leave you without a heart, can I? I guess you’ll just have to take mine in exchange.”

Dave smiled and gave shared a small laugh with his mate at their exchange before once again bringing their muzzles together. With a sigh, they separated, and the two of them returned to their ministrations of each other. He selected one of Carol’s favorite shampoos and began working it into her fur, taking a few moments to knead some of the soreness out of her muscles at the same time.

The hot water falling over them, and the movements of their paws allowed them to forget about the outside world, even just for a few precious moments. Their focus was only for each other, and the two smiled at this shared experience. As they held each other’s gaze, the promise that their previous evening's revelations would indeed not be a solitary event, but they knew they would have to wait a while longer to further explore this new light in their lives.

* * *

Reality, and responsibility forced them to stop long before either of them wanted, but they had to get moving if they were going to make it to Mac’s before last call. After drying and fluffing their fur, Carol’s ministrations had at least improved the condition of his coat to a point where she was willing to rate his ruff as ‘fluffy _ish_ ’. That was about the best that either could hope for, so they got dressed and exited the salle.

The parking lot was empty except for their car, and Carol motioned towards it with her free paw. “Did we want to drive over, or just leave it here?” she asked, but had already started walking towards Mac’s, and Dave chuckled at her idea of offering a choice.

“It’s just down the street, so we’ll just come back and pick it up after,” he said as he caught up with his mate. “I don’t intend on drinking too much. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy one.”

Carol nodded, and motioned for them to pick up the pace. “There won’t be a repeat of Monday tonight, Dave. Trust me on that.” She laughed and made a sidelong glance at Dave. “Like I said, I have plans for you when we get home, and I think we’ll both want detailed memories of the event.”

Dave smirked and reached over to draw her close to his side before placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head. “Oh, believe me, I have no intention of jeopardizing those, Love.”

His conversation with Jim that morning came unbidden to the forefront of his mind, and He laughed at how accurate the antelope had been. Carol looked up at him and cocked an eyebrow at his actions, and Dave made a dismissive gesture with his free paw.

“Just something Jim said after you dropped me off,” he said in answer to her unspoken query. “He mentioned that our...performance wouldn’t have been out of place under some high school bleachers.” Looking back down at his mate he shared a wry smile with her.

Carol cocked her head to the side and shrugged. “I don’t see a problem with that.”

“Neither do I, Carol. Neither do I,” he said as the two continued down the road, neither one willing to concede their own version of the sticky-paws drill.

* * *

It wasn’t long before they found themselves in front of the familiar doors of Mac’s, and already the wonderful sounds of conversation, laughter, and music were filtering into the night. Stepping into the pub, Dave’s nose twitched at the combined scents of dozens of mammals, as well as a familiar...and rather delicious aroma.

Carol’s nose was also twitching, and a wide grin spread across her muzzle. “Ooooh, it’s wing night!” she said jubilantly and rubbed her paws together in delight. “Blazin’ suicide, here I come.”

Dave shuddered involuntarily at his mate’s choice for dinner. Although the wings at Mac’s were one of their favorite treats, the two had quite a different tolerance for spice. Carol, as well as a surprising number of ZAF personnel, were of the opinion that there could never be such a thing as too much hot sauce, but it had taken him only single timid lick of a one of these _famous_ wings to disprove that hypothesis.

The memory of that experience was defined by searing pain, hallucinations, and had ended with him gnawing on a stick of butter in an attempt to quench the fire in his mouth. Although he had managed to build up _some_ tolerance over the years, regular hot was at the upper limit of his palette. Conversely, Gavin had been the one to supply the cooks here with his _special_ recipe for the aforementioned blazin’ suicide sauce years ago, when the badger had been unimpressed with the pub’s then selection of liquid hell.

Preparing himself for the inevitable bets and challenges that wing night tended to produce from both the ZPD and ZAF mammals, he scanned the room, and saw that the whole group had taken up residence towards the back of the pub, having slid several tables together to accommodate everyone.

John was just returning from the bar, with four pitchers of beer clenched in his paws. The lion noticed Dave and Carol, and smiled warmly at them, before making a motion towards the table with his head.

Making their way over to the group, they saw that two seats had been reserved for them. It appeared that everyone from the class had decided to drop by, and there were even a few other ZPD members present in their group, Mark Delgato, Sue Pawmeyer, and Jake Zephyr having found seats with the group.

Delgato was the first to notice the pair’s arrival, and he immediately checked his watch. “Time, sixteen minutes forty three seconds. Nadine, who was closest?” he asked Fangmeyer, who was examining the scribbles on a napkin, before looking over to the new arrivals. “Glad you two could make it. You’re just in time for the first round of torture,” he said, motioning with a paw towards several buckets of wings already on the table, the various mammals already digging into the treats. Only Officers Hopps and Wilde were not partaking in the feast, and instead had ordered some sandwiches for themselves.

Dave’s twitching nose told him that the wings covered the entire heat scale, and he already recognized the near neon coloration of the hottest ones. He had a sinking feeling that the results of the bets tonight would not involve the usual monetary penalties, and he whimpered slightly at the implications for his mouth.

Fangmeyer looked over to Lupe, and tapped a claw against the napkin. “Corporal, you’re number’s up,” she said simply, and motioned to the suicide wings with her free paw. “You know the drill.”

The maned wolf laughed, took one of the wings, and without pause, proceeded to strip the meat from the bone. She made no outward sign of distress, and even licked the remains of the sauce from her paws without reacting, aside from an appreciative hum.

Grizzoli looked at the other canine in disbelief, looking down at the remains of the...more sane wings on his plate. “How do you ZAF mammals do that?” he asked incredulously. “That stuff could peel the paint off of a cruiser, but all of you just gobble them down like it’s nothing.”

Colleen laughed as Ivan’s remark, and reached over to take another of the wings from the bucket. “Those are the words of someone who has never had to live off of nothing but MREs, or even worse, ERats, for a month,” she said before reducing the second wing to little more than bone. “Hot sauce is mother. Hot sauce is father. Hot sauce is God in the field.”

At some unspoken signal, all the ZAF personnel, along with Carol proceeded to grab one of the suicide wings to eat. As with the Corporal, they gave no sign of distress as they consumed the meat, and the rest of the group just shook their heads at the display, much to the amusement of the military mammals.

Taft took the opportunity to pour a fresh round of beer for the assembled crew, and Dave took a long draught of the cold brew. Carol did likewise and sighed contentedly before leaning against his side, her eyes closed for the moment, as Dave wrapped his free arm around her shoulders. There was a chorus of “Awwwws” from around the table at the little tender moment, and Dave chuckled, then tilted his head so that it was resting on the top of Carol’s.

The coyote didn’t open her eyes, but after taking a moment to nuzzle her mate, she bared her teeth at the other mammals seated around the table. “If any of you ruin this moment for me, I will end you!” was all she said, her voice dripping with malice.

Dave chuckled at his mate’s words and looked towards their tablemates who were more amused than anything else. “It’s been a rough week, guys. I wouldn’t want to test the sincerity of her pledge this time around,” he said, and was only half-joking about it.

There was a round of real laughter from around the table, only punctuated by a yelp of surprise when Lupe struck out at Zephyr, expertly hitting the pressure point in his wrist, and causing him to drop the smartphone that he’d primed to capture a covert photo of the pair. Gavin caught the phone before it could hit the ground, and handed it back to the young cheetah.

“Keep it in your pants, Spots, unless you want to see what Latrans is like when she’s actually angry,” the grizzled mammal said, and the big cat paled slightly under his fur before returning the phone to his pocket.

Carol laughed and finally pushed away from Dave, her earlier malice now absent from her expression. “Thanks for that, Lupe, Willis,” she said before focusing her attention on her newest student. “If that had ended up back at Precinct One, the squeal from Clawhauser would be lethal to everyone within half a block.”

There was a bark of laughter from the end of the table, and Dave looked over to see Nick nearly doubled over. After he managed to regain control, he motioned between Judy and himself, “You have no idea, Carol. When Ben saw Hopps and me together for the first time, I was sure of two things.” The fox held up a digit, “One, that there was about a fifty-fifty chance that I’d get my hearing back within a day, and two,” he held up another digit, “that every window on the street needed to be checked for cracks.”

There was another shared round of laughter, and even Dave was drawn in. He only knew the desk officer in passing, but if he had to guess, he assumed that Ben was enthusiastic when his coworkers paired off.

Carol took another sip of beer, and looked towards the fox and rabbit. “I understand that congratulations are in order with the two of you,” she said, and there was a round of clinking glasses as the assembled mammals toasted the two partners. “It only took you about a year longer than it should have for the both of you to figure out the obvious.”

Hopps seemed slightly embarrassed by the attention, but Wilde reveled in it, and he leaned over and gently touched his cheek to the top of her head. The rabbit stiffened momentarily, but then with a sigh of resignation, she relaxed and leaned into her fox. The two adopting a similar position to him and Carol’s own from a moment ago.

There was another round of caterwauling from the assembled mammals, and the two officers separated themselves, albeit with some obvious reluctance, before waving away the attention.

Wilde was the first to change the topic away from he and his partner, “So, Spots,” he began, directing his inquiry towards where Zephyr sat, “How are you finding life in Precinct One? You’ve been with us a week, and you haven’t been called into Buffalo Butt’s office once.”

The cheetah gave a snort of laughter at the comment, “You do know that not being called into the chief’s office a usually a good thing, right, Wilde?” he asked, the amusement plainly evident in his voice. “The two of you seem to have meetings with him at least once a shift.”

Wolford gave a bark of laughter at the comment and looked over at his colleagues, “Nah, Zephyr, the chief just can’t get enough of Wilde’s sense of humor. Have you seen how happy he looks in the bullpen?”

Sue gave a laugh at the commentary, “I think he actually cracked the lectern as well as his phone yesterday when _someone_ ,” she looked purposefully at Nick before continuing, “kept texting him during the briefing.”

“Especially after that same someone changed his ringtone to Justin Beaver’s _Baby_ ,” Ivan added, and the table degenerated into laughter.

Wilde looked aghast at the accusation, and theatrically held a paw to his chest. “I’m shocked that you would implicate me in such a prank,” he said, and there was a round of rolled eyes from the assembled mammals. The fox chuckled, although poor Judy seemed to be trying to hide behind her ears at Nick’s antics. “Besides,” he continued, “What Does the Fox Say would have been too on the nose.”

Hopps gave an exasperated sigh and looked over at her partner. “You’re going to get stuck on parking duty for a month if you keep this up, Slick,” the doe said shaking her head. “Worse, he’ll probably give me the same duty since I’m the senior officer.”

Sue decided to have pity on the rabbit, and chose that moment to speak up. “And there are some other benefits to having him at Precinct One,” she added coyly before leaning over and planting a kiss on the other cheetah’s cheek. Silence descended over the table, and it was obvious to Dave that this was a new piece of information for the group.

Wolford was the first to break the silence, “Wait...You two are seeing each other?” The older wolf looked shocked at the revelation. Quickly he looked over to Delgato with slight panic on his face. “Oh shit! Did we have a pool set up for this?”

The lion shook his head at the wolf, and looked to the remaining ZPD officers, “I hadn’t heard of anything, and the only one more up to date on the black book is Clawhauser.”

Sue laughed at the admission, “We’ve been seeing each other for months, and only Bogo knew. We asked him to keep it quiet until Jake’s transfer was official.” She motioned towards Zephyr with her free paw. “Once he made it onto T.U.S.K., he being in the same precinct stopped being an issue for the brass.” The female cheetah laughed before motioning towards Nick and Judy, “Not all of us have shown that we can put duty before personal stuff.”

“Or act as a bloody unstoppable force of nature together...which that pretty well sums up the Precinct One Experience, Wilde,” Zephyr said after a moment before becoming thoughtful, and wrapping his arm around Sue. The look on his face showing how relieved he was that he could openly display affection towards his mate. “It’s actually really weird. The mammals there are some of the best that there is. Heck, you two actually saved the city, and you’ve proven again and again that they can handle whatever Zootopia throws at you...hell a lot of that was before you were even a cop, Wilde.”

“I also almost broke this city, Zephyr,” Judy added quietly, “Don’t forget that part. I was to blame for a lot of what happened to the predators of Zootopia.”

Dave could hear the sadness, and sincerity, in her voice, and he knew all too well what she was speaking of. He had seen the press conference that she was referring to, and both he and Carol had felt some of the public backlash against predator species that had followed in the intervening months.

All of that hadn’t begun to compare to the pain he had felt when he had overheard one of their own neighbors instruct their calves to be sure to use the other side of the street when passing in front of his and Carol’s house, or as they had put it, “ _the Pred’s place_ ”.

It appeared that, even his, supposedly, respected role in society hadn’t spared him the fearful glances from suddenly _former_ friends, or the polite, and not so polite, requests from patients to see another physician. It had been particularly hard at the Centre, as only Doug, Jason, and Jim were from prey species, and both the female DVMs were predators. He and Cat had faced the worst of the prejudice, being two of the larger predators on staff. It had been as though the darkness that permeated the Centre had leaked out to blanket the whole city; the whole country really, in misery. No one would be forgetting those days for at least a generation or more, and moving forward was about the only recompense a mammal, especially a predator, was likely to find.

“Don’t blame yourself, Hopps,” Delgato said before taking a drought of his beer. His own memories of the Nighthowler crisis plainly evident in his features. “We were all played by Bellweather and her lackeys.”

Dave nodded, “Mark’s right,” he said and looked towards the rabbit. “There’s more than enough blame to spread across all of Zootopia.” He shrugged before continuing, “In retrospect, even _I_ , or at least _some_ members of the medical community should have seen that something was up. Once Lionheart’s scheme was discovered, we should have started examining the savage mammals themselves; we should have been able to tell that something wasn’t right.  I was probably the most blinded by it because I am in the medical field. A lot of us assumed that the physicians working on it knew what they were doing and were being honest. If we had pressed the issues, asked some more questions, we would have seen the only doctoring going on was of the data. We…” Dave paused for a second, both not realizing that he had this much to say on the matter and also feeling the weight of what he was in the middle of saying next. “We should have done more.”

He looked down to his beer for refuge, then took a few sizable gulps of it. When he looked back up, he realized he still had the group’s attention. Carol wriggled her arm under his and took his paw in hers. It was support he needed to finish what he had started.

He took a deep breath, and continued on.  “The Honeywell Centre managed to get initial comparisons of all the recidivist mammals done within the first two weeks of us knowing about them, and we had a paper published within a month indicating that there was no genetic reason for it to be happening.” Shaking his head, he once again admonished himself for not seeing the signs at the time. “After that however, we started running into roadblock after roadblock. Officials wouldn’t talk to us, we’d ‘just miss them’ at the office, or we would have requests and samples simply go missing with no explanation.”

He looked back towards the rabbit, but the whole table still had their full attention fixed on him.

“I thought you guys just worked with inter couples,” Sue asked, remembering the _lecture_ that Dave had provided on Monday evening with a shudder. “Why would you be working on the savage mammals?”

Dave nodded in understanding, “Interspecies couples are our focus, but we’re also perhaps the best genomics research facility in the world. We have thousands of genomes in the Honeywell Database, and the resources to handle pretty much anything you can think of.” He paused as he thought back to the source of those resources, and a small frown formed on his muzzle. “The Honeywell’s sacrificed everything to try and have a pup. Their legacy was to make sure that the work would continue, and that we would always have the resources to do so.”

He gave a nervous laugh at the forethought of the Honeywells and drained his beer, motioning for Taft to pour him another. “Money and technology has never been an issue for us, and that’s probably the only reason we were able to get _any_ research done on the Nighthowler victims.”

He once again shrugged at the horrific events, “I think that Bellweather had mammals throughout the system, but they underestimated the Centre’s resources,” he said after a moment. “They weren’t expecting a private institution to jump into this with everything that we had, and we caught them flat footed. Once they knew that we were getting wise to their ruse, they did everything that they could to slow us down to a crawl, but none of us noticed it at the time, even though we were probably the best equipped to detect it.”

He looked back towards Judy and Nick, “I guess what I’m saying is that you’re not alone in blame, and a lot of us missed the warning signs...or were just too myopic to see the bigger picture.”

Wolford raised his glass to the pair of officers, “The important thing, Hopps, is that you did look beyond the obvious, and the two of you did save the city in the end.”

Taft gave a deep sigh at this, and tipped back his glass to drain it before refilling it from one of the pitchers. “Thankfully you were there. The ZAF wasn’t innocent in that regard either. There were those of us...a lot of us brass that wanted to do something, but we’d always be delayed or sent off on wild goose chases.” His eyes grew hard for a moment before he gave himself a shake to rid him of those thoughts, “There was a very real shakeup in the ZAF Intelligence Core after that conspiracy came to light.”

The lion had a rather cruel smirk on his muzzle as he took another drink. “Rumor has it that a few mammals have found themselves in some rather dark ZIA holes in the aftermath, and they seem to have _misplaced_ the keys.”

The ZAF personnel gave a round of laughter at the plausibly _deniable_ admission, but heavy implication that some of Bellwether’s co-conspirators were facing a rather more severe punishment than the sheep ringleader herself. The ZPD shared glances with each other before finally raising their glasses to their allies.

“To hindsight,” Wilde said after a moment, “for always making our decisions in the moment seem idiotic after the fact.”

“To Hindsight!” the assembled mammals echoed before downing their drinks and returning their attention to the painful feast in front of them.

Ivan was just tucking into a plateful of wings when he noticed Wilde’s choice of meal. “So what gives, Wilde? We’ve got a table full of deliciousness, and you’re settling for a mushroom sandwich,” he asked with genuine curiosity.

The fox shrugged and took another bite of his sandwich, “I’ve been _mostly_ vegetarian for years.” He motioned to his partner with a free paw, “It was something my mom and dad used to talk about. Foxes are already seen as shifty mammals, who are not to be trusted, and with prey outnumbering preds pretty well everywhere in the city, it’s just not polite to flaunt that you’re eating the meat of another animal in their faces. It makes everyone more comfortable...or at least isn’t yet _another_ black mark against you in their eyes.”

Grizzoli swallowed his current bite, and his ears pinned back in embarrassment. “I didn’t even think about that,” he said, looking between his plate and the rabbit sharing his table. “Sorry about all this, Hopps.”

The rest of the table also shared guilty glances at their plates, but Judy laughed and waved the apology away, “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to the ZPD being pred heavy, and it doesn’t bother me anymore.” She looked over to her partner and smiled slightly before continuing, “And I happen to know a certain fox who does allow himself some cheat days every now and then, so dig in if you want.”

Nick shook his head in response, “No can do, Carrots. It’s only a cheat day if it’s once in a blue moon, and we had sushi together yesterday.”

Carol looked askance at the rabbit for a moment, “Wait a minute. Hopps likes real sushi, or Hopps had the vegetarian stuff while you indulged in your cheat day?”

Judy once again made to hide behind her ears, and her voice was quiet when she spoke, “It ends up I kinda like shrimp and crab...but most of it was the vegetarian stuff.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste as she looked at Nick, “I tried some of the other fish, but the flavor was just awful...and the smell.” She mimed a gagging motion, with an overindulgent moan of disgust, and the table degenerated into laughter at the admission.

Nick shrugged apologetically in reply once the laughter died down, “That was probably more my fault than yours, Carrots. You jumped right from dragon rolls to mackerel sashimi,” the fox said, and the noses of several canids around the table twitched involuntarily. “It’s just a little on the strong side, but I’m glad you enjoyed _most_ of the evening.”

Judy reached out to take Nick’s paw in her own, “Of course I did, and thanks for showing me another new experience.”

Smiles were abundant around the table at the scene, but Sue was thoughtful for a moment before shrugging, “Hunh, I never even knew a bunny could eat meat.”

Some of the mood dissipated, as unsurprisingly, the table looked over to Dave who shrugged in reply to the unasked question on almost everyone’s mind, “Pretty well any mammal can eat _some_ meat. Just like a lot of predators can eat vegetables, nuts and fruit. They just don’t get as much nutrition out of it, and too much can cause significant issues for them. Really there are more cultural barriers involved than biological ones.” He paused and looked over to Nick, who was still holding on to Judy’s paw, but was also listening as intently as the others.

“In many ways, it’s much harder for predators to make the switch, as we lack almost all of the big adaptations to digest plants,” he said and motioned to the sandwich on Wilde’s plate. “Your system can probably only get about thirty percent of the nutrients that Hopps can out of that, and even she pales in comparison to what some of the ruminant species can manage due to,” he stopped his train of thought and quickly thought of a way to redirect the conversation before he said something to embarrass the bunny, or himself, “...some cultural adaptations in many lapine species.”

The rabbit gave a small sigh of relief that he had not gone into some of the historical details of rabbit digestion. They may have become civilized, but some evolutionary adaptations didn’t disappear overnight, and most rabbits did still have a functioning cecum.

He waved a paw dismissively to try and steer the conversation back to Wilde’s vegetarianism. “Basically, it just means more carefully watching your diet, and supplementing where needed. For prey species, meat can be an occasional treat, but needs to be done in moderation,” he concluded the lecture by dipping a carrot stick in the never quite identified dressing and popping it into his mouth with a snap. “Just as predators can enjoy some veggies of questionable nutritional value every now and then.”

“Questionable taste too,” added Wolford, who regarded his fellow wolf suspiciously.

There was a general round of laughter from the assembled mammals, and Carol punctuated the mirth by roughly poking Dave in his midsection, “And even predators need to watch what they eat, mister,” she said with genuine amusement as she looked at the ever growing pile of bones on his plate, and Dave feigned a look of genuine hurt.

“Hey, hon, I’ve earned a treat,” he said, although the amusement in his eyes detracted from the tone of his voice. “Besides, by the sound of things, I’m going to need that energy for later,” he added with a wry smile on his muzzle and a knowing wink.

The table once again degenerated into a variety of catcalls and cheering, while Carol groaned and made to cover her eyes with a paw before replying. “I never should have started corrupting your sense of humor, Dave,” she said, while pushing another bucket of wings in his direction.

There was a bark of laughter from Lupe at the exchange, the maned wolf shaking her head at Carol, “Oh please, Latrans. If that’s your idea of corruption, I’m sure he’d get a kick out of when you picked me up and went on about how you were going to…”

Carol’s head snapped up and fixed Colleen with a glare, “Don’t you finish that sentence, Corporal. That was girl talk, and you know it.”

Lupe held up her paws submissively, but had a clear leer on her muzzle as she looked over to Dave. “Eat up, Doc. You _are_ going to need it.”

Another round of hooting and laughter greeted the maned wolf’s rather blunt statement, with both Wolford and Grizzoli raising their muzzles to the ceiling and letting loose with an undulating howl that was picked up by a couple of other wolves in the pub. For once, Dave was not drawn into the howl, as his focus was squarely on the face of his mate. His wide-eyed expression was paired with a somewhat goofy grin on his muzzle.

The unspoken question was obvious to both of them, _“What are you planning to do to me, and should I start running?”_

Carol gave a bark of laughter at Dave’s expression, and then reached out to cup his cheek with one paw. “Trust me, Love. You’ll enjoy my plans for tonight.”

Dave’s smile changed to one of true warmth, and he placed both paws on his mate’s cheeks and drew her into a deep kiss. Carol hummed appreciatively, and the table’s degeneration into more catcalls and laughter was utterly ignored by the pair. After a moment that could have been mere seconds, or an eternity for the two, they separated, but Dave drew Carol into an embrace, with him cushioning her head against his chest. When he spoke, the words were little more than a whisper; a private moment meant only for the two of them.

“Always and forever, my love. Always and forever.”

* * *

The group had reacted predictable to the overt display of affection, but things had quickly returned to normal as the assembled mammals finished their dinner. Delgato was the first to depart, after receiving a text from his mate. He was shortly followed by Ivan and Robert, who had had indicated that they had early shifts to prepare for.

“It was good to spar with you again, Robert,” Dave said as he shook the older wolf’s paw, only realizing that he was rubbing his side where Wolford had punished his ribs during their bouts.

Both Grizzoli and Wolford laughed at the gesture, and Robert tipped his head in acknowledgement. “The feeling is more than mutual, Doc,” he said before stepping back and looking over to Carol, his head cocking to the side in curiosity. “I get the feeling that we might have more chances to test each other in the coming months.”

Carol laughed at the three wolves, and nodded her head in reply, “You would be correct, Wolford. We’ll need to work on the scheduling, as Dave’s going to be...rather busy at the Honeywell Centre for a while at least,” Carol said after a moment. She might not have known all the details of the Rey’s situation, but she had experienced similar events in the past, and knew full well that her mate could, and probably would, be needed at a moment's notice. She also knew what the costs to him personally could be and knew that she should probably start psyching herself up for what she guessed the ending would entail.

Shaking her head slightly to rid it of those dark thoughts, she continued, “We’ll be wanting to push all of you pretty hard in the near future, so you might want to prepare yourselves.” The malicious twinkle returned to her eyes as she spoke, and the three wolves shared worried glances with each other.

Grizzoli shook himself at the _friendly_ warning, and waved a paw at the assembled mammals, “On that terrifying note, I’m off. Wolford, Fangmeyer, Pawmeyer, I’ll see you three in the bullpen tomorrow.”

The two ZPD wolves turned to leave just as the music changed from its usual background ambiance to what sounded like a new remix of Gazelle's _Try Everything_. Carol and Lupe’s ear’s perked up instantly, and the two canines quickly made their way to the small open space on the floor that served as the pub’s dance floor. They were quickly followed by most of the table, with only Taft, Willis and Dave remaining seated.

“Still not much of a dancer, Dave,” John asked after polishing off the last of his beer, and motioning towards the barkeep to bring the table’s bill.

Dave laughed at the lion’s comment, but also shrugged and held out his paws apologetically, motioning towards the dance floor, “Not for something like this. I think Carol likes her feet uninjured.” He looked between the two ZAF mammals and then over to the dance floor, where Carol was already enjoying herself with her comrades. “If a slow song comes up, I’ll make the attempt, but until then, I’m more of a risk than an asset to her...and I don’t see either of you jumping up to join in either.”

The other two males laughed at his admission, and Taft shook his head in reply, “I’m a traditional cat, and without Jenna here, it’s just not the same.”

“Ditto for me, Sir,” Willis said, then took another sip of his beer. “There’s only one girl who can make me dance, and she’s not here.”

John gave another rumble of laughter. “Only the one, Gunny?” he asked, the amusement plainly evident in his voice. “I seem to recall another female who could make you dance at a moment's notice.”

The badger gave a chuckle but shook his head. “Dana’s in high school, Sir. Dancing with her papa is pretty far down her list of wants right now.” His expression became thoughtful for a moment before a rare crooked smile spread across his scarred muzzle, “But if she asked, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

Gavin looked between the two other males, and his expression became severe, “And that little detail does not leave this table, or, with all due respect, Sirs, I will frag you both. I have a reputation to maintain you know.”

Dave and John laughed at the comment, and Dave shook his head in disbelief. “High school? Already?” He had known Gavin for as long as he had been with Carol, and he had seen the badger’s daughter several times over the years. The thought that the little bundle of energy, who had been fascinated by his tail when they first met had reached adolescence was incredulous.

John looked over to Dave and smiled warmly, “Cubs grow up fast, Dave...far, far faster than you want.” The lion sighed, and obviously was thinking of his own cubs, or rather adults now. “They never stop being your little miracles, but they grow up so quickly it seems.”

Gavin nodded his head in agreement, “When you told me that Nicole was starting university last year, I nearly had a heart attack, Sir. I might not have been there to change her diapers, but I remember when she did need that particular service.”

The two males shared a knowing and weary glance before changing their focus to Dave. There was still a smile on John’s muzzle when he spoke, “And have you and Carol made any decision in regards to that little milestone?”

Dave held up his paws in mock surrender at the question but laughed nonetheless. “One step at a time, John. We both want pups, but there are a few thing to take care of first.”

Gavin chuckled at the comment, “Ah, yes. Would one of those things be a little shindig that you’ve got planned in the near future?”

Dave smiled and nodded in reply. He had asked John to surreptitiously let Carol’s friends at the ZAF know about his anniversary plans, and he was glad that the news had spread to the other instructors.

“That’s a big one,” he said after a moment, but then frowned. “I’ll admit that I’m still not sure doing it so publicly is the right way to ask, but it’s tradition for wolves, and I want to do this right.” He looked back towards the dance floor, and sought out the form of his mate, “I’ve waited too long already.”

Gavin chuckled in reply, “If you have any worries about her saying no, get those out of your head right now.” The badger motioned over to Taft with a paw, “The Captain had to _officially_ put an end to the betting pool at the ZAF when intel on your plans came to light.”

Dave cocked his head to the side in confusion. Those little office pools were commonplace, and although not technically allowed, it was rare for any action to be taken to prevent them.

John laughed at the wolf’s confusion before he spoke, “I had to, Dave. There was only one mammal who bet that she’d say no. Just based on the number in the pool, there isn’t a small enough form of currency to divide amongst the winners.”

A frown formed on Gavin’s face as he shook his head, and motioned over to the dance floor, “And that particular mammal still hasn’t learned his lesson, Sir.”

Dave looked back towards the crowd, and immediately saw what the badger was speaking of. Carol was dancing with Colleen, Jake, and Sue, but Miles had come up behind the coyote and had pressed himself against her back. Dave’s ears pinned back in an instant, and a recently fluffed fur bristled as a growl started to form in his throat. He made to stand up, but a large paw on his shoulder forestalled his action.

He looked over to where John sat, and there was a cruel smile on the lion’s muzzle. “Relax, Dave. This is going to be good.”

Gunny Willis also chuckled, and pointed back towards Carol. Dave could see that his mate’s ears were starting to pin back, and it was obvious that she was... _unimpressed_ with the cheetah’s closeness. There were also similar looks from both Lupe and Pawmeyer, who looked at the big cat with open disdain, but kept dancing; not wanting him to spoil their evening.

Gavin considered the scene for a few moments before precisely choosing a the moment to start counting down, “And three... Two... One.”

The badger paused, and then frowned as there was no change in the tableau in front of him. He was about to speak, when Carol’s right paw flashed downwards, and roughly grasped Argent’s groin. The cheetah’s eyes opened wide in shock, and he hunched forward involuntarily as the coyote tightened her grip.

The cat’s motion brought his head closer to Carol’s and Dave could see her mouth move as she said something to her colleague. No one at the table could hear what was said, but the bared teeth that Carol displayed left little doubt regarding the meaning of her words. After a moment she released her grip, and the cheetah stumbled backwards, his own paws moving to cover his abused groin. The look on his face was a mixture of shock and anger, and after a moment his eyes sought out Dave, and the cheetah’s expression changed to one of pure hate.

It only lasted for an instant, but it was clear to everyone at the table, and John’s expression became severe, as he pointed at the Warrant Officer and then to the door. Argent’s expression became neutral as he nodded at his CO, stood up as straight as could, and made to exit the pub with what dignity he had left.

John looked at Gavin and sighed. “Gunny, I think I need to have a chat with WO Argent. Would you please join me outside? Dave, it was a pleasure...well up until about two minutes ago at least.” The lion shook his head before looking back to Dave. “And think about what you learned today. I’ll be in touch so we can iron out your role in the program.”

Gavin nodded his head in agreement, and looked over to Dave. “Doc, you do right by that girl, and we’ll take care of the fuckwad.”

“That ‘fuckwad’ outranks you, Gunny,” Taft said as he stood, but there was more amusement than reproach in his tone.

“Which is why I‘m going to let you say that to his face, Sir.” Gavin said without hesitation. “No officer worth his commission acts like I just saw, Sir; on or off-duty.” The badger spat on the floor as he made to follow Taft out of the bar. “That cat’s rank is the only reason why I don’t kick his sorry ass myself.”

Any reply that the lion made was lost in the background noise of the pub. Dave shook his head, and looked back towards his mate. He smiled when he saw that she was once again smiling, and enjoying herself with her friends. The song came to an end, and Dave was surprised to hear, not another modern tune, but one that predated both he and Carol. The opening notes of Unchained Melody caused an instant change in the dancers on the floor, and Carol’s eyes immediately looked over at Dave.

He smiled and made his way over to his mate. They didn’t speak, and merely held each other close, and allowed the music to flow around them. The rest of the world may well have ceased to exist, as their attention narrowed down to encompass only each other. Words were unneeded, and as they gazed into each other’s eyes, they once again saw their fundamental truth; that they were one.

* * *

The evening had ended shortly after the dance; the various mammals all bidding farewell to each other, and heading home. Both Dave and Carol walked back to the salle, each with an arm wrapped around the waist of the other.

With _nearly_ unlawful speed, they were back home, and upon entering the house, Dave waved a paw towards the living room before motioning upstairs. “Did you want to stay up a bit or…” His words were cut off when he turned to face Carol, only to have the coyote, pounce on him, wrapping her legs around his waist, and pulling his muzzle against her own.

Dave stumbled back for a moment before grasping onto Carol’s hips, and returning the kiss with equal enthusiasm. Carol pulled away after a moment and looked him squarely in the eye.

“Bedroom, now!” was all she said before reaching down with one arm and stripping off her shirt, then placing a paw on either side of his face and once again kissing him deeply, a low, hungry growl rumbling in her throat as she did so.

Dave didn’t need any more encouragement, and quickly climbed the stairs two at a time, carrying his mate to their bedroom. He wasted no time making his way to the bed laying Carol and himself down on its surface.

He broke the kiss, and moved down his mate’s body, nuzzling and marking her with his scent as he did so. After a moment, he leaned back and stripped off his own shirt hastily. His gaze roamed over the body of his mate, and a similar, but even lower growl started to form in his own throat as he leaned back down towards her. Something out of the corner of his eye made him look away for a moment, and suddenly, he stopped, and his jaw hung wide in surprise.

“Spirits, what did we do to the bed?” he asked as he took in the mess of shredded sheets and chunks of memory foam littering the mattress surface and floor. He had known that their lovemaking last night had been...energetic, but he had no memory of this kind of destruction. His shocked expression became even wider when he looked at the other signs of damage. “...and when did I bite the headboard?” he asked when he saw the clear signs of fang marks on the thick wood.

Carol laughed at his expression, and firmly grasped his muzzle to redirect his gaze back to her. “I already ordered a new bed. It’s arriving tomorrow, and I have no idea when or how it happened, but I very much _want_ it to happen again, so what do you say we finish the job?” she asked before pulling him down into another kiss. The two of them allowed themselves to be lost in the moment, and all their concerns and questions were forgotten as their world once again narrowed down to contain only each other, and that was all the two of them would ever need.

* * *

**Notes:**

And there we have it. A proper rest chapter for Dave, but things will be back to the Centre for the next chapter, and we all know what that means for the tone of the story.

Due to the lateness of this chapter, I’m going to only give a limited **Science Time!**...partially because there wasn’t much to cover this time around.

 **Imposter Syndrome:** This is an interesting psychological condition, where an individual is incapable of internalizing their accomplishments, or has difficulty in being able to see their own skills from an outside perspective. It’s quite common among individuals who are considered high achievers, including many people in the medical and scientific fields.

In these cases, there is a common fear that the sufferers aren’t as capable as others think they are, and that they’ll be discovered to be a fraud. This is particularly true in scenarios like the Honeywell Centre, where there are so many of these high achieving individuals in one place. Basically, people (or mammals for Zootopia) downplay their own accomplishments, but more obviously see the achievements of their coworkers. For some reason, the mind tends to obsess about the questions that you couldn’t answer, as opposed to the myriad of ones that you did.

Put simply, there’s a tendency to focus on the things that we get wrong, or fail at, as opposed to when things work out. In my own case, I’ve had it happen several times. Normally the scenario is where a question comes up, but I’m unable to answer, yet one of my colleagues gets it in seconds, or where an experiment doesn’t work as planned, and someone points out a simple change that can fix the scenario. In both of these instances, I feel like an idiot, but I’m also forgetting about the dozens of times that _I’ve_ been the one to provide the answer to a problem or question.

Long story short, when you start to doubt yourself, think back at the number of times that you’ve succeed. You’ll probably find that the latter list is FAR bigger than the former.

Another interesting demographic that seems to suffer from it at a significantly higher rate are ethnic minorities, but the reason for this varies considerably. Among African Americans for instance, there is a significant uptick in those reporting Imposter Syndrome in those individuals who fear that they obtained their position as a result of affirmative action as opposed to skill. This is not normally the case however, and the overwhelming majority of individuals with Imposter Syndrome tend to do well, but do show signs of additional stress.

 **Sticky Paws (Hands):** This is a real thing, and seeing it being done by two highly skilled practitioners is something truly amazing to behold. I’ll admit that my own training was limited, but the blindfold portion of this chapter is based upon some of my own experiences training in a variety of martial arts over the years.

I’ll be honest, I was usually the one eating the floor mats, but I do remember one time where, when training while blindfolded, something just clicked, and I really could tell what my opponent’s actions were going to be, just by the way their movements felt. I could easily build a mental image of their posture, and motion, and was able to use it to deflect and dodge their attacks...well for a few seconds at least.

I still ended up on the mats.

 **Hindgut Fermentation:** Yeah...let’s just say that I’m pretty sure that rabbits in Zootopia don’t take advantage of this particular digestive trait any longer. As the name implies, hindgut fermentation is the process by which food is further processed through bacterial-mediated fermentation. In rabbits this takes place in the caecum, a pouch like structure that occurs at the junction of the large and small intestines. This structure is often quite large in herbivores, but in carnivores it is often much reduced to an appendix.

Food enters into this pouch, and is broken down with the help of bacterial species. Primarily, these bacteria help break down cellulose and branched sugars, but also assist by producing small chain fatty acids.

There’s a catch though.

The absorption of sugars generally happens in the small intestine, but the food has now moved beyond that area. So what is a rabbit to do?

They eat it again once it’s expelled from the anus.

It should be noted that the caecotroph is quite different from feces, and most hindgut fermenters are aware of when one of these caecotrophs are released, and consume it directly.

...but I’m pretty sure that rabbits in Zootopia have moved beyond this practice, but the odds are very high that they still have a functioning caecum.

* * *

**Diet in Zootopia:**

So this is a topic that really needs more time than I can devote to it for this chapter, however I’ll mention that I am hosting a discussion over on the Zootopia SubReddit on Sat Sept 23rd, and will try to go over this in more detail then.

One key convention to remember is that, regardless of the source of the nutrients, all mammals need to get three main macronutrients: Protein, carbohydrates, and fats. These are the things that we need in fairly large amounts to survive. It’s important to remember that the required amounts of each can vary wildly, as our bodies can generally convert macronutrients from one form to another fairly easily, albeit at an increased energy cost compared to getting it from their diet.

One instance where this isn’t the case is for what have been dubbed essential amino acids. Outside of plants and fungi, it’s rare for an organism to be able to synthesize _every_ amino acid that they required, as over time, enzymes involved in their synthesis have been lost, and in reality, they aren’t normally needed if you’re getting enough protein in your diet.

In humans, there are 9 essential amino acids (histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine). These are amino acids that we must get from our diet, as we have lost the ability to make them ourselves. Among other mammals, this can change. For instance canines also lack the ability to make arginine, and both cats and foxes also require taurine as part of their diet.

In ruminants, there is an additional source of amino acids that comes into play, namely those produced by the bacteria in their stomachs, which help with the digestion of cellulose and other branched carbohydrates.

Outside of these macronutrients, there are also required micronutrients, and as the name implies these are things that we need, but not normally in huge amounts. These include various vitamins and minerals that are required for the proper function of our cells. In humans, one obvious requirement is for vitamin C. Humans and higher primates (along with guinea pigs and fruit bats...not sure about the former, but the latter does make sense), we’ve lost the ability to synthesize this vitamin, and as such we need to get it in our diet.

Failure to obtain the necessary amounts can lead to a condition called scurvy, which affects the connective tissue in the body. It was very common is sailors, with documented cases dating back to the second millennium BCE. It’s also an interesting disease in that, the curative effects of fresh fruit and green vegetables was discovered and lost several times over the ages.

Perhaps the most well-known prevention of scurvy at sea was the Merchant Shipping Act of 1867, which mandated that all sailors be provided with a daily lime ration specifically to prevent scurvy. It also had the effect of creating the pejorative title “limey” to describe royal navy sailors.

Regardless, macronutrients we need large amounts of, micronutrients we only need small amounts.

For now, I’d like to cover just how odd it would be for Nick to be vegetarian, or for Judy to enjoy some shellfish every now and then.

The general convention in the public is that carnivores eat meat and herbivores eat plants, right? Well reality has a way of blurring the lines, and food selection is no different. In the wild, although their diets do tend to lean towards one end of spectrum or another, most animals will consume a mixture of plant and animal matter if it is available.

For some species, their dietary requirements are extremely specific. Panda’s and koalas basically rely on a single food stuff in the wild, bamboo and eucalyptus leaves, respectively. This isn’t the case for the majority of species, as this type of specialization is quite rare, but there would be a need to address not only nutritional requirements for all the species in Zootopia, but also the preferences of those species.

So we have two levels of specificity to consider:

  1.     Required
  2.     Preferred



The former is something that would be absolutely be required for each species in the Zootopian society, but the latter is where we can get into “luxury” items and the like. From a regulatory perspective, the emphasis would be in the former, both in terms of research as well as public policy. Although we can group species into the broad categories of predator and prey, but there is a range of diets that many species can successfully live on.

Deer have been observed eating scavenging carrion if they can, and nature is full of instances of females consuming their placenta after giving birth. We also see that many herbivores will consume insects when they can. Most animals are opportunistic feeders, and will consume anything that they consider palatable...or even if it isn't, as the consumption of rancid meat does occur.

On the other side of the fence, carnivores have been observed consuming a variety of plants, and this is even more puzzling than the herbivores eating meat. It's easy to get nutrients out of meat, as it's easily broken down, even in the stomach of ruminant animals, it just takes longer than it would in a carnivore's stomach. With plant matter, a lot of the nutrition is tied up in long polymer molecules like cellulose, and these can't be easily broken down without special conditions that aren't present in the carnivore digestive system.

So why do they do it? Well it depends on how they've evolved. Most obligate carnivores don't eat plant material for nutrients, they eat it to help clear out their digestive tract. This is the case for felines who eat grass to help alleviate hairballs and the like. For many other species, they only eat things like fruits or tubers that contain more digestible carbohydrates.

They key thing to remember is that these alternate food sources are not the main part of their diet. A herbivore consuming only meat would fare poorly, as would a carnivore only eating plant material. In the former case, their digestive tract is too long, and large amounts of meat would literally putrefy in their guts, leading to illness and death. In the latter, their inability to digest the plant material would lead to starvation. In the case of groups like felines and foxes, they would also face the hurdle of being unable to obtain all the essential amino acids (such as taurine) from plants.

Anyways, Judy eating sushi isn't as odd as it may seem. She can certainly enjoy it on occasion, just as Nick can have his love of blueberries. According to the director's Nick's actually a vegetarian and some form of real supplementation would be required. For fruits, his system can get some nutrients out of it, particularly sugars, but he’d need supplementation to cover all the essential amino acids. Protein shakes, and fortification of processed food items can go a long way towards making his diet manageable, but it would require some knowledge of nutrition to be able to pull it off without outside help.

Vegetarianism would be much more difficult for obligate carnivores, such as big cats. Quite simply, their diets would need to be mostly processed food (think fortified tofu and the like). Their systems have not evolved to process plants very well at all, and even if we push back the date of peace between predators and prey back 20,000 years, it’s still not very long from an evolutionary standpoint. As a human example, this is enough time for the mutation that allowed humans to digest lactose into adulthood to become the prominent trait in most of Europe, but that was a mutation in the promoter of a single gene. Breaking down plant matter requires entire biochemical pathways to perform, and in the cases of ruminant animals, and hindgut fermenters, the action of bacterial species in the gut is needed to aid the process.

These aren’t minor adaptations, and would require hundreds of thousands to millions of years to develop.

So long story short, meat consumption in prey species is more easily explained, and in Zootopia, there really would be more cultural barriers than physiological ones preventing prey species from indulging in meat every now and then. Vegetarianism in predator species would be contingent on processed foods and supplementation, but could be possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regardless, I will close things off here, and believe me, I am going to try and get chapter 14 done within a month, not three. I apologize again for being so late, but I hope that you enjoy this rather different chapter of Lost Causes and Broken Dreams. 
> 
> As a note, chapter 14 will also be when I’ll be including the first piece of artwork for the story, and my thanks go out to stevegallicci for drawing such a touching scene. 
> 
> For those of you who are interested, be sure to look up TheWinterBunny on Deviant Art, as I also commissioned another piece of artwork for a chapter that is still a ways down the road. The piece is titled Blessing, and the only hint I’ll give regarding the scene is that no additional mammals were harmed to produce this image. Any deceased individuals were that way from the start of the story.
> 
> Once again, my thanks to WildeNick for editing this beast. I think this has ended up being the longest chapter to date, but I had a lot of fun writing it. Please give his story, Three Months a Fox a read. It’s an interesting look at the three month period between the press conference and the arrest of Bellweather.
> 
> Finally, my thanks to Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps for letting me take part in the What If project, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the reception that it received. I strongly encourage everyone to give the series a read, as it’s a collection of talented artists and authors all working to produce something novel.
> 
> As always, send your questions, comments, and reviews, and I’ll try to address anything that you bring up.


	14. Chapter 14: Promises Made and Promises Kept

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, and once again sorry for the even longer delay in getting this chapter out the door. Unfortunately, I ran into some personal tragedy that took the wind out of my sails, and really caused my writing to suffer. I had one of my cats die suddenly, and I’m one of those people for whom pets are family. I’m doing okay now, but at the time, I was a wreck, and it impacted both my personal and professional life in an immense way.
> 
> Regardless, I did manage to get this chapter finished, and once again, it’s a behemoth. My thanks go out to WildeNick for managing to edit this chapter...taking time out of his Thanksgiving holiday to do it, I might add. Please show him some love, and go read his stories, Good Cops Like You and Three Months a Fox.
> 
> Now, I do have some exciting news! There is not one, but three pieces of art for Lost Causes and Broken Dreams that will be posted to the story. Unfortunately, FanFiction doesn’t allow for external links, so I can’t post them on that site, but AO3 has new artwork for the following chapters:
> 
> Chapter 1: “Trading Shifts” by TheWinterBunny. This piece shows the opening scene of the story, with Dave and Jim out at the smoker’s corner.
> 
> Chapter 3 (also replaces the cover art for the story): “Lost Causes” by TheNightManager. I was approached by this artist, who came up with a concept for the story. I found it interesting that the scene they chose along with the quote came from two of the most emotionally crushing chapters (3 and 10).
> 
> Chapter 14: “Sad” by Steve Gallacci. Steve drew this for me a few months ago in anticipation of the concluding scene for this chapter (holy crap it was actually 5 months ago). It’s utterly gorgeous, and completely captures the emotions of the moment. I won’t spoil any details, but it’s another emotional scene.
> 
> Please be sure to look up these artist’s work. TheWinterBunny, TheNightManager and sagallacci are on DevliantArt, and I encourage you to take a look at their complete portfolios. Also, please consider contributing to TheWinterBunny’s GoFundMe campaign. She’s trying to raise some funds so that she can attend university in the US, and could use our help.
> 
> I’ll be uploading all the artwork to my DA account (under the username assamite1...why I didn’t go with eng050599 I have no idea), but I hope that you’ll enjoy the new additions to the story.
> 
> Also, just as a reminder, the mammoth What If? Collaboration, headed by Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps is still motoring along, and has cracked 75 chapters in length. My contribution was back over the summer, but I’ve been helping out every now and then when I can. The story arcs have ranged from serious to utter fluff, and covers pretty well every possible historical setting imaginable. It’s the combined work of dozens of authors and artists, and I encourage everyone to give it a read.

* * *

 

Now, to thank everyone who took the time to comment on Lost Causes and Broken Dreams since the last update:

 

**From Fanfiction:**

 

Berzerker88: Chapter 13 was very much a change of pace, and I wanted to surprise the readers by showing the finer details of something other than medicine and science. I figured an extended sparring scene would fit the bill.

Steve Gallacci:We both managed to come up with interesting coyotes to season our stories with. Looking forward to the upcoming project you suggested ;-)

Tinbuzzard1: The focus on OCs in Lost Causes is both a blessing and a curse. It provides a clean slate from which the personalities of each character can be crafted, but you lose a lot of readers simply because the main characters from the film are rarely present. As for the martial arts, I tried to be as descriptive as possible without making each scene drag on too much. Hopefully, it struck the right balance.

J Shute Norway: I have quite a few friends who are either in, or retired from the military (also a bunch in law enforcement). I may have picked their brains in regards to some of the content and traditions, but I also took some time to try and come up with how those traditions would work in Zootopia. I’ll try to work on the structure of any future fight scenes, to make them flow better. 

Guest: I included some discussion regarding possible evolutionary pathways for Zootopia in Chapter 10. Hopefully you made it through that one, and had a chance to read it. In reality, any individual evolutionary path is highly improbable; the very fact that it’s predicated on utterly random events pretty well ensures this, so while the world of Zootopia is highly unlikely to occur...so too is a world dominated by sentient psychotic apes.

Cimar: As always, I thank you for your help and devotion to this setting. It’s been a privilege and an honor to be a part of your works, and I look forward to whatever comes next.

Jknight97: Glad you managed to get caught up with the story. I’m sorry to hear about the personal issues, but I hope that you get them resolved and find the motivation to write again. 

greeneyesandskinnylegs: I’m glad you stumbled onto the story, and once again, the artwork that Winter made is just beautiful. I hope you are enjoying the rest of the story, and good luck with med school. It’s a long road, but the rewards are huge (provided you don’t work at the Honeywell Centre).

 

**From AO3:**

DrummerMax64: After an extended delay, you’re finally giving LC&BD a shot. Hopefully, you’re enjoying the ride so far.

MyNameWasPepino: Glad you managed to power through the entire story to date, and that you’ve enjoyed the ride so far. Hope that this latest chapter manages to maintain the same level of enrapture. 

WolfGuardMeistwin: Thanks for catching that error in chapter 13. I actually watched that scene, and knew that the wolf should be Grizzoli, but when I was writing, I somehow switched him to Snarlov. 

Now with that out of the way, I also have one more reader to thank. I actually should have done this back in Sept, but it completely slipped my mind. erathora commented on Reddit about how Lost Causes had managed to help her and her husband with some deeply personal issues. It was one of the most beautiful compliments I have ever received, and I am still humbled by it. As I wrote, I and other scientists are pulling for both of you, and it is my fervent hope that you succeed.

And now, after yet another massive delay, I give you chapter 14 of Lost Causes and Broken Dreams.

* * *

 

**Chapter 14: Promises Made and Promises Kept**

 

Both canines had collapsed into an exhausted sleep after vigorously fulfilling Carol’s wish to once again express their deep devotion to each other. At least for Dave, the memory of this night’s lovemaking had been less ephemeral, and he was pleased to recall much of what he’d shared with Carol. Even the moments which lacked specificity were still defined by the intermingled scent of their love for each other, and the undulating howls that he had let loose on more than one occasion. He grinned at that; far from her usual chastisement of his giving into wolfish instincts, his mate had added her own screams to the chorus on more than one occasion. Exhausted though they were, both had been happy to awake before the alarm the next morning, and after some quiet snuggling, both had been more than willing to continue on from where they had previously left off. 

As they laid intertwined in the now truly destroyed remains of their bed, basking in the afterglow of their exertions, the first signs of sunrise were beginning to peek through the curtains, but neither mammal made any move to part from each other. Carol had made good on her comment from the previous evening, and was resting her head on Dave’s chest with her eyes closed as she listened to the steady beating of his heart. They both knew that there were only a few minutes left before their daily responsibilities would need to take over, but for now they simply reveled in each other’s presence. 

Dave wrapped his arms around Carol, and reached up to stroke the fur on the top of her head. She sighed contentedly, as he worked his clawtips through the velvety soft patch at the base of her ears. They both had fairly stiff outer coats, with a much softer undercoat concealed beneath, but in several places, this became exposed, and they each enjoyed both the sensation of being groomed, and being the groomer. 

“Do we have to get up?” Carol asked mournfully as she cracked open her eyes and glanced over at the clock. They still had a full ten minutes together, but the expression on her face spoke volumes regarding the insufficiency of the time remaining to fulfill her desires for Dave.

Dave chuckled at her expression, and continued to groom her fur. “I don’t want to, hon, but we both have places to be, and other mammals that need us.” he paused in his ministrations, and tilted her head so he could look into her green eyes. “You deserve better than this, Carol.” he said sadly to his mate. “I wish we could run away for a week; just the two of us, far away from the big city.” He closed his eyes and pictured the two of them, sheltered away on some tropical island, far away from their responsibilities, save those they gladly had for each other.

His revery was cut short when a sharp pain on his nose shattered his fantasy, and his eyes snapped open just in time to see Carol’s paw draw back from his snout; the digit that she had used to flick the sensitive organ still extended. There was no malice in her eyes though, merely the twinkle of amusement that so frequently colored their surface when the two of them were together. 

“No more of that, Dave,” she said with a wry smile on her muzzle. “I knew what I was signing up for years ago, and I don’t want any of that to change.” She took a moment to resettle herself on his chest before looking back towards him. “Would I like the chance to disappear with you to some far off paradise? Of course I would.” Her expression took on a more sultry look as she ran her paws through the fur of his chest ruff. “Who knows, I might even let you leave the bedroom for an hour or two.”

Dave chuckled at her statement, and wrapped his arms around her. Carol continued to gaze down at him, and she sighed contentedly at his embrace. “But that’s not who you are, and it’s not who I am...at least not anymore; not since I met you. ” she said softly, as if she was hesitant to admit that last part. “You showed me that a mammal could truly care about a complete stranger at a time when I was living in a very dark place. You helped me change for the better, and you need to keep helping whoever needs you. Please don’t ever forget that, Dave.”   
  
Dave was taken aback by her words, and he hugged her all more more tightly in reply. “You’ve changed me forever too, Love,” was all he could think to say in reply, his voice slightly husky as the implication of Carol’s words struck home. “Without you, I would have fallen apart years ago. You showed me just how strong a mammal can be; to never back down when you are in the right.” 

Carol shook her head, and looked back up towards him. “What a difference a week can make,” she said, realizing that their relationship had once again deepened. “We’ve been together for seven years, but that’s the first time I’ve admitted that to anyone.”

Dave hugged his mate tightly once more. “I think we’ve both known the truth for a long time, Carol. We’ve changed each other for the better, and we’ve walked side by side for every step along the way,” he said, and a smile crested his muzzle as he thought back to a somewhat familiar moment from their past. “Do you remember the first night we were together?”

Carol’s ears pinned back at the memory, and she looked away, her expression almost the polar opposite of Dave’s, “I remember almost killing you when I woke up, if that’s what you’re referring to.” she said quietly.

Dave gave a small chuckle, and reached out to tilt her head back so that her eyes could see his own. “No, Carol, that’s not what I remember at all. You woke up in the arms of another mammal, and it brought you back to the dark place that used to be your life. Change takes time, and what  _ he _ had done to you,” Dave’s voice hardened slightly at the context of his words, and he would never utter that mammals name again if he could, but he forced himself to soften his voice as he continued, “was your only frame of reference for that situation.” 

Carol’s ears were still pulled back against her skull, but she met his gaze. “And you didn’t almost kill me, Carol. Do you remember what I said to you when it looked like you  _ were _ going to strike?”

She nodded her head, her eyes glistening as they filled with tears. “ _ I’m here, Love _ ” she said, her voice husky with emotion.

“And I always will be,” he said as he reached down to wipe away the lone tear that escaped her eye. “Just those three words was all it took to draw you out of the darkness.” He could see that she was considering his words, and her ears began to relax. “Right from the start, we were changing each other, and for the better, Carol. We’ve never needed words to know that, but giving those thoughts form proves just how intertwined we’ve become. I’m yours, Love. Now and forever.”

Carol shook her head, but smiled warmly at her mate, and then moved her paws up Dave’s body, placing them on his cheek ruffs, and pulling their muzzles together in a brief kiss. When they separated, Carol nuzzled against his cheek, sighing contentedly. “Oh my sweet wolf,” she said with no trace of the previous sadness in her voice. “Don’t ever let the caring part of you change. Just promise me that.”

He returned her affectionate nuzzling for a moment before replying, “You have my word, Carol...but I did mean what I said about you deserving a break from this.” Carol pushed herself up, and looked down at Dave with a disapproving glare; her right paw moving towards his snout with her index digit already in position to deliver another flick.

Dave laughed at the gesture, and shook his head, “I don’t mean now, Love, but hopefully soon. Doug is scheming up some plan to get some more mammals at the Centre, and if that pans out, we might be able to make that particular fantasy a reality.”

Carol sat back on Dave’s chest, straddling him as she cocked her head to the side. “The Centre’s been trying to get more staff for years. What’s changed this time?” she asked, knowing all too well the staffing difficulties that plagued the Centre.   
  
Dave shook his head, “I have no idea, but he seems very confident this time around. We will have a new physician coming on staff in a few months, but she’s a special case.” Seeing Carol’s expression become more confused, he clarified, “Melissa is one of Doug’s eldest does, and will be wrapping up her residency soon. Apparently she’s been planning on joining us for years, but we can’t expect Doug’s family to fill all the positions we need. Having three of the Wilsons on staff is a major boon, but I can tell that it’s taking a toll on Doug.”

After taking a moment to consider things, Carol nodded her head, “Well, I’ll be hoping for some progress,” she said, as her gaze became distant, and Dave could tell that she was engaging in the same type of fantasy that he’d had earlier. “A week on a private island with just the two of us sounds like Heaven.”

Dave laughed at her comment, “A private island? You certainly dream big, Love.”

Her initial reply was a snort of derision, as she once again focused on his face, “Like we need to care about money,” she stated simply, the amusement in her voice coming through clearly. “Do you ever bother to read the reports that Beverly sends us?”

Dave chuckled and shook his head in reply. As was the case for many mammals at the Honeywell Centre, Beverly Lennis was their accountant, and she managed many of the staff’s investment portfolios. He knew that she issued regular reports on their financial situation, but after the first few years, Dave had ceased paying them any serious attention. The truth was that, with the exception of the house, they managed to live mainly off of Carol’s salary, and had been hoarding away the majority of Dave’s more considerable earnings from the get go. They could both retire that instant...but neither one was willing to give up on careers that they loved, no matter how tempting their occasional fantasies might be.  

“Has the balance changed from  _ way more than we’ll ever need _ ?”, he asked jokingly. His earlier comments to Jim regarding his position on some mammal’s seemingly endless pursuit of wealth flashing through his mind.   
  
_ “...after a certain point, money just becomes a way of keeping score in a game that I don’t even want to play.” _   
  
The coyote on his chest sighed disapprovingly, but then laughed at the situation. “That’s still the case, Dave. I don’t think we could outright  _ buy _ a private island...at least not a big one, but renting one for a week, hell even a month, would be no problem.”

“Then your wish is my command, Love,” Dave said before pulling Carol down into, what he had intended to be a more protracted kiss, but a harsh beeping from the nightstand forestalled any of those plans. Both he and Carol groaned as they separated themselves, and began the process of preparing for the day ahead. 

As he watched his mate make her way to their ensuite and saw her paw motioning back in his direction, her digit beckoning for him to join her, as was their custom. He filed away Carol’s fantasy into the back of his mind as he joined her. 

_ “It wouldn’t hurt to do some research into tropical retreats...and find out what Doug’s plans are in the meantime,” _ he thought to himself as he made to follow Carol. Looking back over his shoulder, he marveled at the destruction they had inflicted over the past two nights, but he smiled at the memory of those events. They had once again shown that they would be by each other’s side from this day forth.    
  
“And I’m going to make that vow publicly very soon,” he said quietly, as he heard the sounds of the shower turn on.

For now however, reality needed to take hold for another day. He might get his first glimpse at the genome of the Rey’s pup, and the prospect simultaneously filled him with a sense of wonder and dread. 

Carol’s earlier words came filtering back to him as he pulled back the shower curtain; Carol having already jumped in was in the process of wetting down her coat. He smiled as he stepped under the cascading water to join her. He would keep caring about every mammal who walked through the Centre’s doors, but for now, his eyes were filled with the visage of the one mammal he cared about more than anything in the world. 

* * *

 

It hadn’t taken them long to get themselves prepared for their day, and Carol pulled into the Honeywell Centre just before seven. As always, Jim was waiting over by the smoker’s corner, but the antelope could wait a few more minutes while he and Carol said their goodbyes for the day. Dave smiled as Carol stopped in front of the main entrance, then looked over to him, her intention and desire plainly evident in her gaze. 

He didn’t need much in the way of encouragement, and he leaned over to cup her cheeks with his paws before pressing his muzzle against hers. He gave a sharp intake of breath when she opened her jaws slightly, and hooked his fangs with her own, effectively locking the two of them together, as their tongues intertwined. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards into what anyone would have defined as a goofy grin as he returned his mates affection with equal vigor.

If the two could had been watching from the outside, they would have seen Jim start a timer on his watch before focusing his attention on the cigarette in his hoof. The antelope giving a quiet laugh and shaking his head at the pair’s heated antics. 

Carol held the two of them together for a few minutes before finally releasing her hold on her mate, and the two reluctantly separated. The impish glow was readily apparent in her gaze and she reached up to stroke Dave’s cheek; his own paw rising the rest on her own.

“And now we have to go our separate ways again,” Carol said with a shake of her head, but the smile never left her muzzle. “Get a move on, Dave, and do what you need to to help your patients.”

Dave smiled as he released Carol’s paw and moved to open the door. “You know I will, Love. I don’t know if we’ll be able to actually help, but I promise you I will not stop trying.” Just before he opened the door, he remembered Tess’ request from the previous day. 

“One more thing, Carol. Tess wanted to get together for dinner on Monday,” he said, and another smile spread over Carol’s muzzle at the prospect. Although she, Tess, and Hank were friends, it was their son, Jordan, who had melted the coyote’s heart. When the kit had learned what Carol’s job entailed, she had risen to hero status with the young kit. To say that the eight year old arctic fox was a martial arts fanatic was an understatement, and he would no doubt want to show his Auntie Carol the latest belt he had earned from the dojo where he had been training for a few years now...and probably also show her a new technique or two.

Carol freely offered various pointers during these meetings, and refrained from expressing her usual derision with regards to sport martial arts. For a kit like Jordan, the training and discipline was enough, and she recognized that...much to the relief of Tess and Hank, who knew better than most what Carol’s training normally involved.

“That sounds perfect!” Carol said, not even trying to hide the delight in her voice. “Did she suggest a place?”

“Not yet, but I’ll call her today and work out the details,” He replied, and considered the question for a moment. “Given that Jordan and Hank will be coming, it’s probably just going to be something casual.” 

Carol nodded in understanding. The two of them weren’t ones to frequent fancy establishments outside of a special occasion, and without a doubt, their favored haunt was Mac’s, so the idea of just a simple evening out with friends was a welcome option. He held up one digit before continuing, “Be warned though, Tess reeealy wants to talk shop with me, as my impossible patients are also hers.”

Her eyes widened at the news, but then she sighed theatrically and shook her head at the wolf. “I know better than to get between the two of you when it involves your patients, but don’t think I’m going to let you put the rest of us into boredom-induced comas.”

“Thanks for understanding, Love,” He sighed theatrically before finally opening the door and stepping out. “Time to get things started I suppose.”

She nodded in approval, but snorted in amusement before placing both paws on the wheel, “You know you love the challenge,” Carol said simply, but her words resonated with Dave, and he knew them to be true. “Remember, I’ll pick you up at seven,” she paused for a moment before looking back towards him, “...and thanks for letting me in, Dave; for letting me help.”

“You said it best, Carol. We’re in this together, and thanks for being there,” he paused momentarily as his gaze drifted over to the main entrance of the Centre. “I think this one is going to hurt more than most.”

Carol’s smile slipped slightly as she shook her head at her mate, “They all hurt you, Dave, but that’s what makes you who you are. Just remember, that I’m not going anywhere. Do what you need to do, and I’ll be there to drag you back from the edge.”

The smile returned to Dave’s muzzle as he nodded towards Carol, just as she revved the engine in warning. He laughed and shut the door. She put the car in gear, and rocketed out of the parking lot, heavily burdening the suspension as she swiftly made the turn towards Savannah Central Command.

He knew Carol’s day was going to be filled with meetings more than anything else. In fact, she only had one sparring session with the other AMCQC trainers, something that she was very much looking forward to due to the required attendance of a particular cheetah warrant officer. Dave smiled as he thought back to her words over breakfast. 

_ “If that cat thinks I’m through with him, he’s dumber than I thought. If Taft doesn’t spoil my fun...and hasn’t already busted him down to private, his voice is going to be at least an octave higher for the next few days.” _

Oddly enough, for all their talk about him being such a caring mammal, he had taken no small bit of pleasure from Carol’s words. He knew Carol well enough that she wouldn’t take things too far, but Miles had pushed things way past the point of reasonable civility, and everyone knew it.    
  
_ “The cat needs to move on,” _ he thought to himself as he raised a paw towards Jim, who was fiddling with his watch as he approached.  _ “and if it takes another rather painful lesson from the body of his desires to get it through his thick skull, then so be it.” _

Jim once again had a wry smile on his muzzle as Dave approached, and the antelope tapped his hoof against his watch before taking another draw from his cigarette. “ _ Only _ four minutes and twenty three seconds today, Dave,” he said with a short chuckle. “Have the fires of passion burned out so soon?”

“Har, har, Jim.” Dave said as he shook his head. “Believe me, the passion is still very much there.” He paused momentarily and his smile broadened at the memory of the previous two evenings. “Burning to such an extent that we have now had to order a new bed... _ again _ .” Dave raised an eyebrow with a smug grin.

Jim gave a bark of laughter at the comment. It was rare, but not unheard of, for the two of them to engage in such banter. They had been friends ever since Dave had started up at the Centre, and their mates had grown close during the intervening years as well. Both Carol and Diana had become particularly fond of the traditional girl’s night out that Laura, Cat, and Sara organized on occasion for the Centre’s female staff. 

Their first night out had been Carol’s first spa experience, but it had not been the last; her and Diana made it a point to indulge themselves at least a few times a year. After amicably putting up with Jim and his schedule for so long, Dave was certain that they deserved it.

Jim shook his head at Dave, and took a final draw from his cigarette before flicking the filter away...a crime for which Dave had received many a flick on the nose for from Carol when he’d been brazen enough to do it in front of her. “Why am I not surprised in the slightest?” he asked before pausing and looking Dave over from ear tips to toes and giving a low whistle as he came to a realization, “...and you’re not joking at all, are you?”

Dave shrugged, and held out his paws in supplication. “What can I say? You were right about how _ very  _ physical we can be,” he conceded scandalously.

“Ah, the wonders of LBC,” Jim said, his voice taking on an almost wistful quality.

The term was unfamiliar to Dave, who cocked his head to the side in confusion, “LBC?”

“Love Before Calves,” the antelope replied, and a smile spread over his muzzle. “Trust me, things get a bit more…” Jim paused as he searched for the right word. “... _ clandestine _ once you suddenly have some very curious additions to the family. There has been many a time that Diana and I have had to come up with some excuse when we’ve been interrupted.” 

Dave gave a bark of laughter, but then grew contemplative. “Crap, that could be a very tricky thing for Carol and I in the future.” He scratched at the back of his head a bit bashfully as he went on. “For canids, there’s not really a quick way to wrap things up if someone has a bad dream.” He shook his head at the thought, but then gave another laugh. “I guess we should think up some family friendly euphemisms  _ before _ that time comes.”  

Jim chuckled, and held up his hooves in the universal sign for quotation marks. “ _ ‘Special Hugs’ _ , was the first term we used, but we’ve had to think fast on occasion, and thankfully the Spirits didn’t see fit to make the process quite so... _ protracted for cervids _ .” Jim shook his head as he reminisced on the trials of being a parent. “Medea knows the truth...and is more than a little horrified at the prospect of her parents continuing to have sex, but that is the way of nature. Poor Frank is getting to the age where it’s time for ‘The Talk’, but even still, it’s a challenge to fit it into our lives.”

He reached out and placed a hoof on Dave’s shoulder and gave the wolf a slight shake. “The two of you will figure it out. It’s just another trial by fire that all parents have to go through...but I gotta admit that I do  _ not _ envy some of the special problems you two are going to have.”

Dave looked at his friend somewhat askance, and Jim gave another bark of laughter. “Do you think that the mating tie is going to be your biggest hurdle, Dave?” he asked, the amusement radiating from his tone. He began to pace back and forth and raised one digit when he next spoke, “Let’s see, your pups are going to be keen nosed,” he held up a second digit, “have excellent night vision,” another digit was raised, “acute hearing.” He stopped and looked back towards Dave, who’s face was etched with the dawning realization as to just how daunting the challenge for him and Carol would be. “And to top it off, you’re right. You and Carol will be...indisposed for what? Fifteen minutes to a half hour?”

The wolf nodded dopily as the gears of his mind ground together in realization that he’d never really considered these particular ramifications before, and Jim chuckled at his friend's plight. “Yeah, you’re fucked...or actually, I guess you won’t be. You’ll figure it out, everybody does, somehow. For now just enjoy what you two have together.”

Dave shook himself a bit to help snap him back to reality. “Gee thanks for that, Jim. At least that particular milestone is still off in the future.” Looking back towards the Centre, he sighed for an entirely different reason. “Any other world shattering revelations you want to share before I go in?”

Jim shook his head in reply, “No real surprises last night, but it wasn’t uneventful. Ms. Robins and Ms. Paddington should be ready to be discharged.” A frown formed on his muzzle as he considered the couple. “The Paddingtons weren’t doing well last night, and Robert was with them for hours. I don’t think either of them got any sleep.”

Dave’s ears pinned back at the news. Robert Cox was the night shift’s grief  counselor, and the bear was probably still in their room if things were that bad. He wouldn’t leave the mourning couple until either Ellen or Nancy arrived at the Centre, and maybe not even then.

The antelope gave himself a shake. “The genome sequencing for the Rey’s will be done today. Percy has the assemblies done, and they’re workable this time around. At least enough coverage to start looking for any real issues.” The antelope gestured up towards the Rey’s room, and his voice was less than confident when he next spoke. “We’ll also have results from the single cell runs from the fetus today, and that’s going to be an utter nightmare.”

  
“We can’t put too much faith in that run though, Jim,” Dave said quietly, already going over the analyses that would need to be rushed if they were going to have a chance at saving the hybrid. “The technique inserts just too many errors for us to really know what issues she’s going to have.”

“True, but it’s all we have for now. Any idea when that Sequel system is getting here?” Jim asked, knowing full well that they would need to get the new equipment up and running as soon as possible.

Dave looked at his wristwatch and shrugged, “Should be arriving any minute now. We paid a premium to be their first install of the day.”   


It would appear that his words were more prophetic than he had anticipated, as his ears twitched at the diesel rumble of an approaching semi. Jim noticed the wolf’s subconscious movement, and he trained his own ears, trying to catch what had set the wolf off. 

It was only a pawful of seconds before the truck turned into the Centre’s parking lot, and began the process of backing into the loading dock located to the side of the main structure. Both Dave and Jim shared a glance, neither one managing to hide their excitement at the prospect of a new toy for the lab. This feeling was somewhat reduced, as both mammals knew the seriousness of the situation for the Rey’s, but this could represent a huge step towards being able to help the pup. 

The two quickly jogged over to meet the delivery mammals, noticing that a second smaller vehicle was pulling into the Centre’s parking lot. From the vivid PackBio howling wolf’s head logo affixed to the side of the van, it was obvious that this was the installation team.

“Thank the Spirits, the Celestials, the Makers...hell anyone who can give us an edge here,” Jim said as they approached the semi; the two physicians made it to the loading dock just as the the driver, a hulking rino, stepped out of the large cab, and looked towards them.

“One of you a Doctor Hawthorne?” the driver asked, as an equally large buffalo exited from the other side of the cab and made his way towards the back of the truck.

Dave raised his paw in reply. “That would be me.” he said, and the rhino motioned for him to join his partner at the rear of the truck, before extending his hoof in greeting. 

“I’m Ryan, and this is Josh,” he said as he shook Dave’s paw and Jim’s hoof. “You’ll need to sign off that the delivery is intact before we can move it for you, but we’ll have it uncrated in a jiffy, and then the install team will be able to get to work.”

The group quickly made their way up to the top of the loading platform as the buffalo opened the rear door. The the hydraulic lift hummed as it extended, creating a bridge between the rear of the trailer and the loading dock itself. 

The single crate contained within the semi was taller than Dave, and he was pleased to note that it had been very well secured during transit. The bison quickly went about releasing the numerous straps that secured the sequencer before motioning for Dave to inspect the packaging.

Dave scrutinized the various shock and angle sensitive stickers that adorned every side of the crate. When he struggled to figure out how to check the indicators on the top of the crate, the bison chuckled and retrieved his smartphone; taking a picture of the top, and offering the oversized screen to Dave. Everything appeared okay and it looked like the unit had been handled very carefully for it’s entire trip, with only a single indicator showing an acceptably miniscule ten degree tilt that had occurred at some point during transit.

“Looks good,” he said, and took the clipboard that Ryan had retrieved from the wall of the trailer. He signed off on the delivery, then returned his gaze to the crate. Inside there was quite metaphorically a literal ray of hope for his patients.

A brief image of cascading mitosis flashed through his mind and the sense of urgency he felt almost took his breath away. “We need this up and running ASAP.” 

A voice from the loading dock drew his attention away from the crated sequencer, “Doctor Hawthorne?” 

Looking back towards the loading dock, Dave noticed a small group of mammals dressed in PackBio monogrammed T-shirts. A dark grey wolf about a head shorter than Dave was at the lead, and had extended his paw in greeting to the other wolf. Dave nodded and made his way over, accepting the offered paw.

“I’m Doctor Adrian Phillips, lead installer and trainer for PackBio,” the wolf said before motioning with his paw to the rest of his team. “This is Debbie Thompson, and Nate Knight,” The snow leopard, and the rat perched on her shoulder both nodded in turn and offered their own paws in greeting.

“Yes, I’m Doctor David Hawthorne, and this is Doctor Jim Cerval,” he said after shaking the snow leopard's paw and offering a blunted claw tip to the rat. “I’m glad to see all of you here. I realize that this is a bit of an odd situation, but we need to get this unit operational immediately.”

The wolf nodded, and motioned for the delivery mammals to take charge of the unit. “I understand that this is going to be set up in a BSL three facility?” he asked, obviously having been fully briefed on the specifics of the install.

“Yes, we’ll have to uncrate it in the airlock and then move it into the lab proper once we can give it a quick decon scrub,” Dave said as he moved out of the way of the larger mammals. The pair didn’t bother with a handcart, and simply lifted the crate using the installed handles. “Are all of you trained in the entry and exit procedures for this safety level?”

Adrian motioned towards his install team, “The three of us are, so we’ll have to move the unit inside the lab once it’s been uncrated.”

Dave nodded, grateful that he wouldn’t have to go over the procedures with the install team, “We have some large mammals in the lab already who can help. How long until you’ll have things set up?” he asked as he motioned for the group to follow him into the Centre.   
  
“About two hours, and then we’ll start the training,” the other wolf stated simply, and Dave sighed at the delay. “The training will take about six to eight hours, and then we’ll do a validation run. You should be good to start using it by tomorrow.”

Dave’s ears pinned back at the timeline, and he turned to face Doctor Phillips, shaking his head. “All the lab mammals went over all the protocols and literature yesterday, and we need to skip the formal training for now,” he stated simply, noticing the other wolf’s eyes widen at the seriousness of his voice. “Also, we won’t be making a validation run. The libraries have already been prepped, and we’re going to load them the moment you get that thing initialized.”

“Without the validation run, we won’t be able to guarantee that the output is reliable,” Adrian stated cautiously, looking between Dave and Jim. Seeing both their stern expressions, he tilted his head slightly in confusion. “You act like this is life or death.”

“It is,” Jim said simply, “and we’re willing to accept the risk that something goes wrong because we just don’t have a day to spare.”

“How many of these units have failed the validation run?” Dave asked, already knowing the answer from his previous research.

“None so far, but this will also void your warranty, Doctor Hawthorne. I’m going to need a written statement that you affirmatively understand that,” Adrian replied slowly, and the shocked expression on his face remained as both Dave and Jim chuckled in obvious amusement.

“Doctor Phillips,” Dave said shaking his head at the situation, “We would purchase and sacrifice ten of these units to the Celestials themselves if it got us the data we are after.” 

The shocked expressions on the assembled mammals was obvious, but Dave continued on,  “Hell, I will personally take a sledgehammer to it if you tell me it could improve the odds by even the tiniest of margins. We’re getting our patient’s sequence data within the next forty eight hours come hell or high water. We already have a control sample that we’ll run on one flow cell, so we’ll be able to validate it on the fly.” He waved a paw dismissively towards the crated unit. “We still have three more of them on backorder even if we do screw things up between now and then.”

“You’re… You’re going to have  _ four  _ Sequel systems? Here? In this tiny place?” Nate asked in unabashed disbelief.

Dave nodded, but there just wasn’t time to go into a lengthy explanation, “Yes, we will, but for now, our only concern is this one.” As he turned to lead the group towards the elevator, that image of exponential cell division flashed through his mind once more and steeled his resolve to make haste. “We need to get moving. I am completely serious about minutes counting in this instance. Every cell division just makes our job exponentially more difficult, and right now, the data that this system can generate is the only chance we have to save a life.”

As he ushered the group into the suddenly quiet elevator, he once again made a mental promise to do everything in his power to help the Rey’s, and his ears pinned back as he fought the sudden urge to growl. Formless as his enemy was, he was ready to fight it with every fiber of his being.

_ “And even if it costs me a every cent I have, I’ll write the fucking check myself if it can save their pup.” _ he thought to himself as the doors closed. 

* * *

 

Once the surprise had worn off, the installation team had managed to start setting things up without further incident. They had been equally surprised to see that literally everything they could have possibly needed was already in place and waiting. All that was required was to initialize the system, and run through the startup procedures. There had been some additional incredulous gazes directed towards the sequencing facilities that the Centre already had. It would be rare for such a small clinic to have examples of all the major sequencing and omics-related hardware, but to have multiple units for  _ each _ platform was utterly unheard of.

Debbie had given a low whistle once she entered the lab and saw the main genomics portion of the facility. “Five BGSeqs, three S-fives, and you’re going to have four Sequels?” The snow leopard shook her head in disbelief, the shock clearly visible in her eyes, “I’ve seen core facilities with less than this. How can you afford all of it?”

A low rumble of laughter came from their right, and Donnie strode over from his workstation, offering his bent elbow in greeting, handshakes being discouraged in the heightened biosafety level of the lab. “We also have a pair of the old pyrosequencing units in the back that we rarely use anymore. As for how we can afford this, we’re privately funded through a endowment from Doctors David and Elana Honeywell...a very sizable one. I’m Doctor Widelhorn, one of the PIs at the Centre.” 

The PackBio team bumped elbows in turn, “Good to meet you, Doctor, I’m Doctor Adrian Phillips, and this is Debbie Thompson and Nate Knight,” Adrian began, motioning back towards Dave with his paw, “Just to confirm what Doctor Hawthorne has informed us, we’re going to be skipping the validation and training, and moving right into a sequencing run for your patients?”

Donnie nodded his head vigorously, “Yes. As I’m sure Dave has mentioned, time is of the essence here.” He motioned towards the Sequel system with one hoof, just as Arnold was settling it into place with the help of Debbie. “Just get it up and running as soon as you can. We’ll take responsibility for any issues that come up.” Donnie gave a sigh, and looked the grey wolf in the eyes. “So long as we can get three genomes out of this unit, it will be worth any cost. Please trust us on this.”

Doctor Phillips nodded his head in understanding, “If it’s this important, we’ll have the unit up and running in about 90 minutes.” The wolf looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing, “Are you going to be doing a  _ de novo _ assembly for your patients, or combining the BGSeq data with the output from the Sequel?”

Donnie considered the request for a moment before his eyes widened in understanding, “We’re willing to go either route, and we’ll have over one hundred fold coverage from the short read data. We really just need the Sequel data for gap closing.” The bison looked back towards the sequencer, and motioned with one hoof. “How much time can we save, if we just generate enough reads for the gap closing?”

“A lot,” Adrian said simply. “We can get you up and running with a twenty four hour protocol that should give you enough data for most mammalian species’ genome sizes. Once you get that, you can start a full run for all three patients and go for the full runtime, which will take a couple of days for three patients.”

Donnie nodded after a moment, “Then that’s what we’ll do.” Thunderously clapping his hooves together, he drew the attention of everyone in the lab towards him. “Everyone! The installation team now has top priority. Give them whatever they need. Jason, are the fetal cells ready for extraction?”   
  
“Unfortunately not for another twelve hours by my estimation,” Jason stated with a noticeably disappointed tone to his voice. The deer was obviously wanting a chance to examine the impossible hybrid too...even if for selfish reasons, and Dave was glad to note that there was at least  _ some _ kind of interest from him. “Unless we want to delay the run, we should focus on the father’s genome for now, but as soon as we’re able, we should do a second quick run on the fetal DNA before we tie up the machine for days.”    
  
“No, we’ll start the father’s run ASAP,” Donnie stated after a moment. “I’ll have the initial assembly for the single cell runs later on today, and we’ll be able to tear into the parent’s sequences in a couple of hours at least. We’ll use that data to target the regions of concern that we can identify and then use the data as it comes in. That will have to do for now. Everyone, to work!”

The pronouncement was met with a flurry of activity as the assembled mammals went about their required tasks. It was fortunate that the system was designed to sit on the floor, so no heavy lifting was going to be required. The installation team had the unit opened up within moments, and got to work getting the delicate fluidics and detectors prepared for duty.

For Dave and Jim, their work here was done, and the pair left the lab in Donnie’s capable hooves. After showering and donning fresh scrubs, the pair made their way back up to the main floor, stopping off in the staff locker room so that Dave could retrieve his lab coat, and Jim could change back into his street clothes and head home for the day.

As they exited the room, Dave placed his paw on Jim’s shoulder, “Sleep well, Jim,” he said simply, and the antelope gave a tired chuckle in reply. 

“I’m certainly going to try, but waiting on today’s results is going to make that difficult to say the least.” He looked back towards Dave as he started to walk towards the entrance. “Text me when the results start coming in, Dave. I’ll want to start doing what I can as soon as I can.”

Dave smiled and nodded, “I’ll text you, but not until you’ve had a couple of hours to rest, at least.” He laughed slightly and shook his head before continuing, “Diana would have my head mounted on a plaque above your fireplace if I let you burn yourself out.”

Jim gave a bark of laughter at the comment before waving a hoof towards the smiling wolf, “You’re one to talk, Dave...but thanks.”  

Dave once again shook his head, and began to make his way to the nurses station to see if there were any patients for him to see before Abby’s committee meeting. As he passed the staff lounge, he heard Abby’s voice from within, and he poked his head inside to see what the wolf was up to. Normally, she’d already be down in the lab, but if he was right, she was stewing in her own juices in anticipation of the committee meeting that would be starting in just over an hour. 

As expected, the she wolf was standing by one of the tables with her notebook in front of her. She wasn’t speaking loudly, but Dave’s sensitive ears had no issues discerning her words, even from a distance. 

“As we see here, the recombination events on the short arm of chromosome 4 from the patient, resulted in a partial deletion of the GHR gene. Fortunately this mutation was compensated for by the other copy of chromosome 4, which was intact.”

Dave recognized the topic of this current portion of her talk. She had summarized it at the infamous ZMA conference...and he also noted that she had failed to respond to his presence in the slightest.

Dave chuckled at the sight which found familiarity in his own memories of graduate school. He cleared his throat to announce his presence. “Did you remember to define GHR, Abby?” he asked, noticing the slight starting motion from the other wolf.   
  
She turned on him, her face showing a slight snarl, “Damn it, Dave! Don’t do that!” Her visage quickly reverted to one of worry and she sighed before turning back to her computer, her digits working their way over the keyboard, “...and no, I didn’t remember to define it. It’s a common gene, and everyone on the committee knows about growth hormone receptors.”

“Never take for granted what your audience does and does not know,” Dave said as he walked over and placed a paw on the younger wolf’s shoulder. “We’re so used to these terms, that we sometimes forget that not everyone in the room is a molecular biologist. Just like when writing papers, define acronyms and abbreviations at least once...unless someone waaaay senior to you already decided that it’s okay to just use the short form.”

Abby groaned and took a seat at the table, covering both eyes with her paws as she rested them on the table’s surface. “I just want this to be over so I can get back down to the lab,” she said dejectedly.

“Look at the bright side,” Dave began, “By the time we’re done with the meeting, the Sequel system will be set up and ready to go." Switching to a more supportive tone, he added, “and you are going to do fine, Abby. You really do know this stuff better than anyone else. Just be confident, and you’ll get through it fine.”

“The logical part of my brain knows that,” Abby said, as she lifted her head to look towards Dave, “It’s every other part of it that’s telling me to panic.”

Dave laughed at the admission, “That’s completely normal too.” He shrugged as he considered ways to ease his grad student’s fears. “Look, by this point, could you deliver this talk without even looking at the slides?”   
  
Abby snorted in amusement, “I could deliver it half asleep, and even after an all night bar crawl.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” he said confidently. “No one is looking for you to fail, Abby. We’re all there to help you get through this.”   
  
She shook her head, but then returned her gaze to the screen in front of her, “Thanks, Dave. Like I said, the logical part of me knows that. I just wish there was a way to make the rest of me shut the hell up about it.”    
  
With that, she made a dismissive gesture with one of her paws without looking back at him, “I want to run through this a couple more times, but I’ll see you at the meeting.”   
  
Dave nodded in both understanding and sympathy, and made to exit the lounge after filling a wolf-sized mug with fresh coffee.    
  
_ “Time to really put a start to the day” _ , he thought to himself as he took a sip and made his way to the nurse’s station.

Both Sara and Cat were already in attendance, Cat being in  the process of handing over a set of charts to the bobcat. “Ms. Jones will need to be admitted overnight for observation,” the jaguar said somberly. It was yet another failure for the Centre, but they all knew that moving on was the only solution for them. “She definitely miscarried at home, and we’ll need to keep an eye on things given the hemorrhaging she reported.”

Cat looked over towards Dave as he approached, her eyebrow arching as the shifted her gaze towards the wall mounted clock. “So glad you could join us, Dave,” she said after a moment, more amused than anything else. “What kept you, or do I have to guess?”

“Nothing nefarious or titillating, Cat,” he said raising his paws in a placating gesture, “The new sequencer arrived just when I did. Jim and I went down to the lab to get the installation moving.”

His eyes shifted upwards towards the location of the Rey’s room, “It’s going to give us our best hope for helping the Rey’s, so I figured rounds could wait a few minutes.”

The two cats shared a knowing glance towards each other, knowing full well the enormity of the task before them, “I guess that’s a valid excuse, but here you go,” Sara said, as she handed over a patient’s chart. “One couple is waiting in exam two.”

“On it!” Dave said, as he leafed through the chart.    
  
“Well this is an odd couple to say the least,” he mused to himself while he took in the details. Interspecies hybrids between warthogs and almost any other species were truly rare finds, but that appeared to be the case here from the initial lab results.

In keeping with his normal habit, he knocked on the door to the examination room before letting himself in. To his surprise, the couple didn’t appear to be experiencing the normal stress and fear that a visit to the Centre normally involved, or rather they were engaged in a seemingly normal conversation, and their outwardly appearance was one of calm. 

Ms. Trotters was already seated on the examination table, the warthog seemingly at ease, but Dave’s nose twitched as he picked up on the sharp odor of fear coming off from her. It was nowhere near the levels that he had become accustomed to patients exhibiting when they had to walk through the Centre’s doors, but it was still present.

Mr. Trotters was the first to look towards the new arrival, and there was sincere happiness in his eyes as he hopped off his stool and offered his hoof to Dave. The boar was a fairly average example of his species in Zootopia, and aside from some darker pigmentation,he could have passed for a native of any number of districts in Zootopia.

“Good morning, Doctor,” he said without a hint of apprehension as Dave took the offered hoof in his paw. “I’m Adam and this is my wife, Taona.”

“Just Ta, please, Doctor.” she said in a heavily accented tongue, as she offered her hoof from the table, the examination gowns provided to patients, not being overly amiable to constant repositioning...at least while maintaining any sense of modesty. Her accent was certainly foreign, but not one that Dave recognized.

“Good to meet you both,” Dave said as he shook the sow’s hoof. “I’m Doctor Hawthorne, one of the attending physicians at the Honeywell Centre. From your chart, I can see you were referred by your family physician,” he looked back to the chart to jog his memory. “Doctor Sane from Sahara Square?”

Ms. Trotters nodded her head, “Yes, when he got the lab results, he asked us to head over here as soon as we could.” She motioned with her hoof between her and her husband, “Both Adam and I and biochemists with Furzer Pharmaceutical, and although our wet biology is a bit rusty, we both know how toji...uh,  _ rare _ , this is...and what our chances are.”

That hint of fear once again wafted through the exam room; this time coming from both the mammals in front of him. If either mammal took notice of his twitching nose, they made no comment about it. They too would have been able to pick up the scent coming from each other, unless of course they were already scent blind to it.

“I understand Ms. Trotters...Ta,” he corrected himself, wanting the parit to be as comfortable as possible, even if it did decrease the professional distance between him and his patients. “While we wait for our test results to come back, I’d like to administer a full physical on you, as well as take a sample so we can work up you and your husbands genome.” 

When he saw the questioning glances that the pair shared, he elaborated. “You’re quite correct that hybrids between your two species are very rare, but they are not unheard of. If this is a true pregnancy, we’d like to be able to rule out as many genetic conditions as we can, or at least get some idea of what we’re looking at.” He tried to keep his tone level and pleasant, as he prepared to brace the couple for the most likely outcome. “At the very least, we’ll be able to determine if there are any real red flags, and can determine the best path for the two of you.”

His omission of the fetus was a calculated one, and he could tell the both mammals understood what he meant. The happy facade on Adam’s face cracked slightly, as he reached out and gripped the hoof of his mate.

Dave gave the couple a moment before continuing, “I don’t want to discourage you, and we really will need to wait on some further testing, but you need to prepare yourself for both the best and worst possibilities. We will do everything we can to help you and your piglet.”

Ta was the first one to speak, and her voice was somewhat husky, but she nodded in understanding, “We know the odds, Doctor. I don’t know if we’re ready to face those odds, but we do know that Ayanmọ will need to be on our side for this to work out.”

“All right then,” Dave began, willing to live in ignorance of the unfamiliar term used by the sow, and motioned for Ms. Trotters to lay down on the exam table, while he went to wash his paws at the room’s sink. “Adam, you’re welcome to stay for the exam as long as Ta is okay with it.” 

The pair genuinely laughed at the comment, and Mr. Trotters moved beside his mate, and clutched her hoof in his own. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said firmly, and Ms. Trotter’s nodded in affirmation.

“If he tried to weasel out of helping me through this, he’ll be sleeping on the couch for a month...at least!”, the warthog proclaimed, but there was more amusement than malice in her voice.

Chuckling at the pair’s antics, which were oh so close to those of he and Carol, he made his way to his patient, and began the physical exam. Once he had taken the usual blood pressure readings, as well as listening to her heart and lungs, Dave motioned for Ms. Trotter to scoot down to the end of the table and place her hooves into the stirrups, so that he could begin the pelvic portion of the exam.   
  
Once he had donned a pair of examination gloves, he began to move his paw over Ta’s abdomen while his other worked to manipulate the various organs of the female reproductive system so they could be felt through the abdominal wall. He was surprised that he could already make out the distended uterus, and part of him swore that he could just make out the form of the fetus itself, but that was unlikely. From the feel of things, the pregnancy was already into the second trimester, at least the early part of it. If he was palpating the fetus in the amniotic sac, it was still very small.    
  
_ “Probably just over two months,” _ he mused internally, not quite wanting yet another ember of hope to take root inside himself. He was already nursing too many of those, and he knew the risks associated with his investment should they be snuffed out.  _ “If it’s already this far along, most of the genetic issues have already worked themselves out, one way or the other.” _

He had just finished the abdominal portion of the exam, when a knock at the door drew his attention away from the pair. Mina, quietly entered into the exam room and handed over the test results to Dave, the knowing look in her eyes telling him what he already knew.

Flipping through the results, he confirmed that the pregnancy test was positive,  _ “Like I needed a test to tell me that,” _ he thought with amusement after the results from the pelvic exam.

Not seeing any red lights in the remaining test results, he motioned for Ta to sit up as he pulled a stool over to sit in front of the pair.

The smile that he wore was just that little bit more genuine as he address the couple, “From the results of the test and my exam, I can confirm that you are pregnant.” He could see their faces light up at the prospect, but he raised a paw in caution, “Based on what I felt, I’d estimate the pregnancy is just over two months along. Does this match with what Dr. Sane determined?”

Ta nodded her head, “He estimated about two and a half months based on his exam as well as the timing of my last heat,” the sow looked over to her husband. “We were never ones to be too careful,” she paused and looked towards her husband with a more serious expression on her face, “but we will be from now on.”

Adam paled slightly under his mate’s gaze, but squeezed her hoof slightly, in support if nothing else. 

Dave had to shake his head at the display, but he cleared his throat to bring their attention back to him. “For now, Ta, I’d like to perform a transvaginal ultrasound to get a look at the fetus. From the external exam, I didn’t feel anything untowards, but there may still be issues that can’t been seen from the surface.” He paused for a moment to once again allow his words to sink in, “If you’re more comfortable with us performing a standard ultrasound, we can also go with that procedure, but the tranvaginal approach will give us a much better resolution to work with.

“I’m fine with the transvaginal ultrasound, Doctor,” she said, and surprisingly there was some humor in her voice. “You’ve already seen all that there is to see down there, so we may as well go for broke.”

Dave and Adam laughed at the warthog’s words, but Dave paused after a moment, and his expression became more serious, “Before we go on, I do need to caution you that there are still numerous hurdles in your path. You’re both scientists, and you realize how wide a pairing you two represent. The fact that there  _ are _ examples of hybrids between your two species is excellent news, but the total number is still vanishingly small in the grand scheme of things.”

He saw some of the joy leach from their faces, but this was as much a part of the job and the examination itself; preparing these would-be parents for the awful possibility that their pregnancy was not viable. Steeling himself, and making sure his mask was in place he continued, “Based on the progress of the pregnancy, there is good deal of hope to rely on. Normally with broad hybrids, the embryos fail prior to implantation in the uterus, and the female doesn’t even know she was pregnant.” He motioned towards Ms. Trotter’s abdomen with one paw, “By now, implantation has already occurred, and we’re seeing no signs of any haemolytic incompatibility, which can be a concern in some pregnancies. You’ve made it past a lot of important checkpoints, but there is a long way to go before we can have you and your husband leave here with a new addition to the family.” He stood, and motioned with his paw for the two to wait. “I’ll go and grab the ultrasound tech, and we’ll have some answers for you very soon.”

As he made to leave the exam room, he stopped and snapped his digits, as he remembered something. Moving over to the supply cabinet, he retrieved two sterile swabs, and paced back over to the couple.

“While I’m here, I may as well get the cheek swabs for the genetic screening,” he said, and was glad to see both mammals open their mouths in anticipation. “We already have the blood samples from both of you, but this will let us get started right away.” 

He mentally added to himself,  _ “Thank the Spirits we can do the standard reference assembly and screening on these two. All our long read capacity is spoken for until we can figure out the Rey’s situation.” _

Completing the buccal swabs, he exited the exam room and made his way to the nurse’s station. Mina was at her usual post, organizing the patient’s charts, but Dave was please to see Grant was also present. The rabbit was filling in some paperwork, but his long ears twitched in Dave’s direction as he approached.

There was both amusement and curiosity in his eyes as he looked up towards the approaching wolf, and a wry smile appeared on his muzzle. 

“I know that look, Doc,” he said without preamble, “You’ve got the scent of something interesting...and that can be good or bad.” The rabbit looked thoughtful for a moment before refocusing his gaze on Dave, “So what’s it this time?”

Dave gave a shrug in reply, and his eyes were apologetic, “It’s a wide cross,  _ Sus scrofa _ and  _ Phacochoerus africanus _ , so there’s a lot that can go wrong, but from my exam, they’re already into the second trimester.” He handed over the chart to Grant, who quickly leafed through the pages; the buck’s eyes widening in realization.

“You’re concerned about congenital disorders?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

Dave nodded somberly, “Yeah, right now everything looks fine, but we need to take a close look at this one. I don’t want to get the patient’s hopes up until we can get a look at how things are progressing.”

Grant nodded and turned back towards his workstation. In a few clicks, he was comparing the developmental notes for both species, along side the results from the exam. Dave leaned over Grant’s shoulder and made some mental notes of his own. 

After a moment, Grant nodded to himself and swiveled back towards Dave. “You’d know better than me, but we should be looking at most of the major skeletal structures being pretty far along in development, as will most of the organs. We’ll be a bit early for all the musculature to be mature, but we should be able to see any of the major defects.” He motioned back towards the chart, now sitting on the desk beside him. “Do you think the gestation period will be closer to the maternal or paternal species?”

“Based on the literature, I’d lean more towards the maternal developmental time, but probably towards the short end of the scale; say one hundred and seventy to one hundred and ninety days.” He motioned for Grant to follow him, “We’ll base the final estimation when we can see the fetus itself.”

Grant looked askance at Dave as he motioned for them to go into exam room five, “We?” he asked with some curiosity. “You not doing it yourself is a bit of a rarity, at least with new patients, but you’re going to be in the room as well? What gives?”   
  
Dave shook his head at the comment, “This is a very wide cross, and I want to see the live image as it comes in.” He shrugged as the two located the transvaginal ultrasound and began wheeling it to exam room two. “I’m not getting any warning vibes, but there’s something that’s tweaking my instincts here...I don’t know a better way to put it, sorry.”

Grant shrugged, “We all need to trust our gut every now and then.” As they reached the door, Grant theatrically motioned with his paws for Dave to go in first.   
  
He had to chuckle at the rabbits performance as he knocked on the door and let himself into the room. The couple were still in their same seats, and Dave was pleased to note that there were no signs, or scents, of any additional fear coming from the two. Part of the reason why he had left the two to themselves was to give them a chance to discuss the findings to date without another set of ears listening in. It was about a fifty/fifty chance that the opportunity would help settle the couple, and he was pleased to see that his impressions of the couple had been correct in this regard. 

The pair looked up towards him as he entered, and once again, his mask was firmly in place. Motioning with his paw behind him, he motioned towards Grant, whose ears were the only thing visible behind the ultrasound unit.    
  
“Ms. and Mr. Trotter, this is Grant WIlson, one of the ultrasound technicians here,” he said without preamble, and Grant poked his head to the side and raised a paw in greeting, so that the pair could get a glance at him, rather than just a pair of disembodied ears.    
  
“Hello Ms. and Mr. Trotter, as the Doc said, I’m Grant,” he said as he positioned the machine near the foot of the bed before making his way to the sink, and hopping up onto the built in step so he could reach the taps to begin washing his paws. “And I’m going to be assisting today.”

“Do you have any questions before we begin, Ta, Adam?” Dave prompted while motioning for Ms. Trotter to scoot down to the end of the table once more. “You shouldn’t feel any significant discomfort from this procedure, but if you do, let us know right away.”

Taona nodded as she settled into position. “Will we be able to see much at this stage?” she asked, not quite managing to hide the apprehension from her voice. 

Dave made sure to keep the smile on his face as he replied, “At this stage, all the major anatomical features will be present. If I had to guess, I’d say that we’re probably looking at fifteen to twenty centimeters in length, so we should have a good idea how they’ll look physically.”    
  
Dave paused for a moment and flipped back through Ms. Trotter’s chart. “Ta, is there a history of multiple births in your family?” he asked after a moment. His examination had only led him to believe that a single fetus was present in the warthog’s womb, but multiple births were more common in porcine species, and in some cases, they were required for the pregnancy to be successful. 

In the distant past, if warthog or pig female didn’t have enough fetuses in a given pregnancy, they spontaneously aborted the litter, evolution having decided that the energy investment was too much for such a small clutch of young. Fortunately, this necessity had decreased over time, as civilization had developed, and child mortality rates had dropped. It still was an issue in some families, and needed to be treated with hormone replacement during the early stages of pregnancy. 

Ta shook her head, “No, and I double checked with my obi...my parents when I found out I was pregnant. We haven’t spoken in a long time...for many reasons.” Everyone in the room could hear the relief in her voice as she spoke, “For as long as they could remember, we’ve only ever had one or two piglets at a time, and it was the same for Adam’s family.” To which the boar nodded in agreement. 

“That’s good to hear, although you’re already past the point where it would have been a major issue, it does mean that we probably won’t have yet another surprise for you two,” Dave added to the amused chuckles of the assembled mammals.

Grant had finished washing his paws by this point, and after donning a pair of gloves, he performed his usual routine of gracefully hopping onto a nearby stool and gliding exactly into position at the foot of the bed. He retrieved the wand from the ultrasound unit and after placing a sterile plastic sleeve over the wand, liberally smeared with lubricant, he paused before inserting the instrument.   
  
“Okay Ms. Trotter, we’re ready to begin. Like Doctor Hawthorne said, if you feel any discomfort just raise your hoof, and I’ll stop. Are you ready?” he asked, his tone more serious than his usual jovial attitude. He had learned the same lessons that all the staff had over the years. There was a time for joking, and a time for professionalism; being about to insert a probe into a patient was very much the latter scenario.

Ta, nodded her head, but gripped her husband’s hoof more tightly in response. Grant nodded, and gently inserted the wand with one paw, his other already working over the controls to the ultrasound unit. It only took him a minute to locate the fetus, and both he and Dave scrutinized the monitor, looking over the small form as it came into focus.

Both he and Grant frowned when they saw the picture on the screen. Although the head and main body appeared to be normal, the left forelimb was little more than a small portion of the upper arm emerging from the shoulder, and the left leg seemed to be missing the entire lower limb, with the appendage terminating just at the knee. Oddly enough, the limbs on the right side of the body were normal.   
  
Grant manipulated the wand and the controls effortlessly as he refocused the image on the various portions of the fetus’ anatomy. Although both he and Dave were concerned by the limb malformations, the rabbit mentally checked off all of the anatomical features as he catalogued them in the system.

_ “Cranial structure is normal. Cerebral ventricles, cerebellar vermi and cerebellum normal. Too early for nuchal fold depth to be determined, but translucency seems good.” _

_ “Torso bone formation good, ribs are mostly cartilaginous, but the epiphyseal plates seem within the normal range.” _

_ “Heart anatomy normal, with a steady rhythm, and normal outflow. Aortic arch is fully formed, with no signs of aneurysm or distension.” _

_ “No abdominal hernia, all organs are present and appear normal; the abdominal wall is fully formed.” _

All together, there were over 40 features to catalogue, and Grant went about capturing images of each one as Dave looked over his shoulder, his worried expression lessening as more and more of the fetus’ anatomy was found to be normal, or at least well within the range where no major contraindications were evident. 

Grant made several more detailed images of the limbs, to better aid in the diagnoses of the condition, but Dave already had a good idea what had gone wrong. Once Grant was finished, and withdrew the wand, Dave caught the rabbit’s eye and sought confirmation that his interpretation matched the buck’s own. Grant nodded and gave Dave a surreptitious thumbs up, as he brought up the images showing the malformation in the fetus’ limbs, and Dave gave a sigh of relief that they were both in agreement with the diagnoses.  

Dave pulled up a stool beside the examination table and rotated the unit so that the would be parents could see, both their piglet, but also the issues that they would face. 

“Ms. and Mr. Trotter,” Dave began, switching back to a more professional mode of address, “There is an issue with the fetus’ development, but overall it’s nothing that will threaten the pregnancy.”

There was relief in both their faces, but both Dave and Grant could see the shock as they took in the two deformed limbs on their child. The scent of acrid fear spiked in the small room, and even without trying, it nearly overwhelmed Dave’s nose with its pungency. 

“What happened to her ẹsẹ...her leg?” Ta said, her voice quiet, but the slight trembling in it couldn’t be missed by anyone in the room. Dave reached over and grabbed some tissues from the small tray next to the bed; offering them to the sow in anticipation of their coming need. He wasn’t surprised that they had surmised the gender of their child, the genitalia being clearly visible in the image, but this would make it all the more personal for them, and he needed to be there to help them through this.

“I know that this is a bit of a shock, but this is a fairly common issue, and it’s one that we can manage,” he began, and both mammals looked towards him, and he could see the pleading request in there eyes...but for once, there might be a way to help.

“Right now, it’s a lot to take, but I want to assure both of you that there are several options that you can consider,” Dave tried to ensure that the confidence he felt carried through to his words, and both the Trotters’ gazes tracked back to meet his own. 

“You’ve noticed the issues with the limbs on the fetus’ left side,” he began drawing on the screen with a stylus. “In both instances, we can see that the upper portion of the limb is present, although it is a bit reduced in the case of the arm.” He looked back towards the pair before continuing. “This condition is commonly called hemimelia, which in English means the loss of part of a limb.”

Dave drew their attention to the normal limbs on the fetus’ right side, “Normally, when we see the loss of multiple limbs, exposure to some kind of teratogen, or mutagen is suspected, but in this case, with the condition only affecting one side of the body, we’re probably looking an expression error in one of the genes that normally controls limb development. Quite simply, the gene that would normally tell the cells how to develop into a limb stopped working before the limb was complete.” As before he tried to maintain a professional demeanor, but also worked to impart the fact that the condition, while certainly significant, would not be a death sentence for their child.

“It’s more than likely an issue with the expression of the WNT-three gene, or wingless-type three,” Dave began, but stopped when the couple’s expression changed to one of confusion, and Dave couldn’t help but chuckle at their response. “Most of this kind of research was originally done using fruit flies, or other insect models. These genes are very old, and are shared by almost all living animals.” He motioned back to the screen, “We will need to wait a bit longer to be sure, but having this diagnosed early is a very good thing.”

“What do you mean?” Adam asked, his voice still confused and hesitant, “Can you fix this?”

Dave shook his head in reply, “No, I can’t  _ fix _ this, but we can compensate for it.” He motioned the pair’s attention to the flat screen panel affixed to the far wall of the exam room, and while he brought the display to life, he noticed Grant incline his head towards the door. 

“Thank you Mr. Wilson, I think I have everything I need for now,” Dave said, and Grant nodded respectfully to the Trotters before exiting the room. 

In the meantime, Dave had transferred the images from the ultrasound to the Centre’s local cloud, then brought several of them back upon his tablet and mirrored the output to the big screen positioned near the bed. Additionally, he accessed several anatomical drawings and historical images of the condition for comparison.

Once he was done, he turned to face the couple. His nose once again told him that the two were frightened by their piglets deformity, but it wasn’t anywhere near as strong as when he first showed them their daughter’s image. 

Circling the bones in the forearm and shin on the anatomical diagram, Dave connected these regions to their counterparts, or rather their missing regions in the fetus.

“Now, as I mentioned, it’s not possible to regenerate the missing portion of the limb, but the fact that this has been identified now is in many ways a good thing,” Dave began, knowing that neither of the Trotters would be willing to take such a statement at face value. “Although we will need to wait a bit in order to determine if any corrective surgery is needed, your daughter will be a prime candidate for early fitting with prosthetic limbs. With the advances being made, there shouldn’t be much in the way of developmental delays, and we can take advantage of the natural mammalian neuroplasticity to make her view them as being a natural part of her.”

Dave knew that he was taking a chance by referring to the fetus in such weighted and concrete terms, but right now, helping the Trotters decide if they wanted to continue the pregnancy was the most important detail to work out. 

“But are there any other issues? Aside from the…” Adam trailed off and gestured towards the image with one hoof, his other reaching out to grasp that of his mate. 

Shaking his head, Dave pointed to the fetus’ head and body, while he continued, “No, in this case, the development of the remainder of the body is completely normal. Neither I, nor Mr. Wilson saw any other abnormalities in any of the major organs and structures.” Switching the display to some of the previous examples of the condition that occurred, he brought up a swath of information detailing such things as the incidence of the condition, average time for developmental milestones, mean IQ, and early academic performance.

“As you can see here, this condition, as is the case for almost all incidences where the role of WNT-three is suspected, doesn’t appear to be correlated with anything other than the whole or partial loss of one or more limbs,” he once again attempted to make his voice sound confident in his diagnosis, but he also knew the question on the couple’s minds. “You will need to decide if you want to continue the pregnancy, and that decision lies solely with the two of you. All I can provide is the facts as they present themselves, and based on all I’ve seen, the missing limbs are the only issues that are in play, and we can work up a treatment regime to minimize those issues.”

The couple seemed at a loss, overwhelmed by the swaying emotions of seeing their child so clearly on the screen, but tempered by the whims of fate that had twisted that joy into something else. Ms. Trotter was the first to shake off the haze of uncertainty, and after blinking away the tears that had been threatening to fall since she had first seen her daughter, she looked towards Dave.

“If...if we don’t want to continue with it, what are the odds we’ll be able to conceive again?” she asked, her voice cracking slightly as she fought to give form to the words. 

Dave nodded in understanding, but unfortunately he couldn’t provide much solace, “Based on the historical data, the odds are very slim, Ta. The number of successful hybrids between your two species is less than about fifty in all the records I’m aware of.” He paused and brought up some information regarding IVF treatments for hybrid couples. “We could try to produce the embryos in the lab, and then proceed to implant them, but the odds of success will still be very low. We might need to fertilize hundreds of eggs to get even a single viable one,” Dave paused for a moment and gestured back to the image of the fetus, “but there’s no guarantee that this won’t happen again. This kind of effect rarely has an easily identifiable trigger, as would be the case if all the limbs were missing.”

“What kind of treatments are you talking about?” Adam asked after a moment, and Dave could hear the pleading tone that edged his words. This would be father, wasn’t ready to give up on his daughter.

_ “This could be problematic,” _ Dave thought to himself as he considered the couple. It wasn’t his place to make the final decisions, but he knew from experience how something like this could tear a family apart. Over the years, he’d seen couples agonize over this same question, and it hadn’t become any easier to deal with. It wasn’t his place to force any one choice onto this couple, and his professionalism kept him from voicing anything other than the facts regarding this case. He’d be lying to himself however if he didn’t silently hope that this couple would at least give their daughter a chance; she had much better odds than most. 

_ “Carol’s right, though,” _ he mused internally.  _ “Me not being able to move past it is probably a good thing.” _

Focusing on Mr. Trotter, Dave once again brought up the ultrasound images from earlier. “As I said earlier, we’ll need to see how the limbs develop before I can give you a concrete list of things that will need to happen. The key thing,” he said, zooming in on the left arm, “is to determine how the bones and muscles are laid out in the limb. I may need to perform surgery to ensure that the main muscle groups are in the right places for when we fit the prosthesis.”

“What will that matter?” Ms. Trotter mumbled, still unsure how to proceed. “It’ll just be a hunk of plastic.”

Dave cocked his head to the size before realizing the miscommunication that had occurred. “Ta, we’re not talking about simple replacement limbs here,” he said, while accessing some additional files from his cloud folder. Soon the screen was filled with images of countless youths, each of them proudly showing their replacement limbs.

Looking back to the Trotters, he continued. “We’re in partnership with the orthopedics department at both Zootopia University and Zootopia General. These are custom prostheses, and are designed to use the existing musculature to function as close as we can get to the natural limb. We use three-D printing to tailor the limbs to the individual species and requirements of the individuals.” His stylus danced over his tablet as he selected several of the photos for further scrutiny. “That’s the reason why we want the musculature to be in as normal a position as we can.”

Dave pulled up one of his sleeves and flexed the elbow and wiggled his digits, directing their attention to the muscles along his upper and forearm. “The sensors in these limbs make use of the same nerve signals that would control the movement of a real limb. By starting out as soon after birth as we can, this type of movement becomes second nature to the mammal. The only difficulty is having to deal with an adjustment period when the prosthetic needs to be replaced as they grow.”

Mr. Trotter looked at the examples on screen and frowned slightly. “I’ve read about these, and I’ll admit that they’re way more advanced than what we’re used to, but what are the costs? You said that they need to be replaced as she grows. How many of these will we need to go through?”

“To start with the costs, you won’t need to worry about that,” Dave said with a smile on his muzzle. Realizing his mistake in not bringing it up earlier, he elaborated, “All medical costs are covered by the Honeywell trust. The prostheses, the training, and the physical therapy will be fully supplemented. As for the number, we normally replace them once a year for the first 5 years or so, and then it’s as needed...particularly during their teenage years, as the growth spurts in some species can be...dramatic.” he added with a slight chuckle. “We haven’t been able to provide this much functionality in the past, but we do have two former patients who are seeing the benefits of this partnership as they grow up.”

He didn’t add that the reason for the small number was the low survivability of most of the Centre’s patients. That wasn’t something that this couple would need to worry about unless something truly unforeseen were to occur. For now the question how to proceed would be solely up to them, and by the expressions on their faces, he could tell that this was something that they’d need to think about, and discuss as a couple. 

“Do you have any questions for now?” Dave asked gently, knowing that this would be difficult to process under the best of conditions. 

The two swines shared a look between the two of them, and then Ms. Trotter shook her head. “No, Doctor, not right now.” She waved a tired hoof towards the screen, and it was obvious that the consultation had been emotionally draining for her. “All this is just...iyalenu...so much to take in.”

“You don’t need to decide anything right away,” Dave said as he gathered up some material for the couple to take with them. “Take whatever time you need to talk it out between the two of you. I would like to see you every two weeks until you do make a decision, so that the pregnancy can be monitored.”

Ta didn’t reply for a while, but eventually she looked to her husband, “Do you really want this, Adam?” she asked after a moment. 

Her husband blinked back tears as he looked at his mate, “I do, Ta. I’m sorry, but I do.” The words seemed to be too much for the boar, and he covered his eyes with one hoof trying to mask the tears that had started to fall. Dave remained silent, but offered some tissues to the boar.

Ta was at his side in an instant, and cradled his head against her shoulder. The pair just stayed like that for a few moments, before with a shuddering breath he separated from his mate, and cupped her face between his hooves. 

“We tried for so long when we first got married, and now...” he gestured with one hoof to the ultrasound image on the display, “there she is.” The boar returned his gaze to Ta, and he shook his head sadly, “I won’t even try to force this on you. I know that kind of thing is a sensitive issue for your family and…”

His words were cut off by the sudden look of shock on Ta’s face. “Is that why you think I’m…” she began, but the words trailed off into nothingness, as tears welled in her eyes. “You ewure oshi! The old ways don’t mean àtan to me, and my parents can go to Hell for all I care. They cast me out when I chose you, and that’s been fine with me for years now. They were only willing to speak to us ifọnkalẹ because they might get an grandchild out of it.” She gestured to the image on screen, “I’m thinking about her, Adam. This is a lifelong condition, and we need to ask ourselves if we’re doing this for us, or for her?”

Her expression softened, and she reached out to wipe away one of her husband’s tears before continuing. “What Doctor Hawthorne said just now made me feel a lot more comfortable about that, Adam. I don’t know if it’s the oriṣa or just fate, but we’ll give her as much of a chance as we can.”

Her husband gave a shuddering sigh of relief, and wrapped her in a fierce embrace, and Dave sat back and tried to maintain a professional demeanor, but he could feel the corners of his mouth twitch upward as he watched the couple switch from shock and worry to true celebration. It was always a rare thing at the Centre, and this week had already seen its share of tragedy, but there were always these rare moments of joy to push back the darkness, even if only for a little while. 

Once again, his thoughts traveled towards the Rey’s, and he allowed himself the fantasy, that they too would be celebrating an impossibility in the near future.

For now however, the Trotters needed his help, and as always, he would do whatever it took to see them leave the Centre ready to start a new chapter of their lives. All three of them.

* * *

 

The consultation with the Trotters had concluded shortly thereafter with the couple promising to make an appointment with Natalie on the way out. The positive outcome was still coloring Dave’s perception, but for once he didn’t push it away as he left the consultation room. After making a few notes in Ta’s chart, he dropped it off at the nurse’s station.

Checking the time, he saw that he still had just over 10 minutes until Abby’s committee meeting, so he made his way to his office, and dialed in Tess’ number from memory. He knew all too well that the vixen would make good on her threats from the previous day if he didn’t report in regularly...and had promised to keep her apprised on the Rey’s progress from here on out.

As was the case yesterday, the phone was answered before the second ring. Immediately, there was a soft chuckle on the other end of the line. “So it appears that an old wolf can learn new tricks,” Tess said, the amusement coming across the line just as clearly as if they had been in the same room together. 

Dave couldn’t help but share in her amusement, but couldn’t let the jibe go by completely untouched, “Har, har, Tess. Be careful though. We’re both the same age, so your comment cuts both ways.”

Tess gave a bark of laughter in reply, “You know that’s not true, Dave. I’m not a day over thirty; I just have years of experience at it.”

“Duly noted.” he said with mock sincerity. Giving a short laugh of his own, he became more serious, “We both take our patient’s well being seriously, and I said I’ll keep you in the loop as much as I can.”

“Hmmm, I suppose that will have to do,” Tess said after a moment’s consideration, “Did you ask Carol about Monday?”

“I did, and she’s really looking forward to it,” Dave replied warmly, “It’s been too long since we had a chance to get together, and I think she missed seeing Jordan.”

Tess laughed out loud at the comment, “I haven’t told him yet, but I know he’ll flip when he finds out he’ll be able to show _ “Auntie Carol” _ his new belts.”

Dave’s head cocked to the side instinctively, “Belts? As in plural?” he asked after a moment. 

“It has been a few months, Dave,” she said with a resigned sigh. “We both tend to get swamped with patients...hell or just work in general, and then even things like a night out with friends becomes a scheduling nightmare.” The vixen laughed once again, at the thought. “Hank and Carol are both saints for putting up with us. You do know that right, Dave?”

“That they are,” he replied simply, knowing that it was the truth for both of them. “Did you have a preference for the restaurant?”

“Do you mind if it’s something closer to home for me?” Tess asked, and Dave could hear the shift in her voice from colleague to mother in an instant. “We’ll probably be a couple of hours together, and I want to have Jordan back home before it’s too late. He’s got school in the morning.”

Dave nodded to himself in understanding, “That’s fine with us, but we’ll need until about seven thirty to get to Tundratown from here.”

“Let Carol drive, you’ll be here by seven fifteen at the latest,” Tess half joked, the two of them being more than familiar with Carol’s aggressive driving style. “There’s a new seafood place just down the road from us, the Fishbowl. It’s a family restaurant, so nothing flashy, but there should be something for everyone...even Jordan,” she added with a sigh.

“Still a bit of a picky eater?” Dave asked with a soft chuckle.

“Uggh, you have no idea,” she replied in an exasperated tone. “If it’s green, he won’t touch it unless it’s covered in ketchup. I’ve taken to using pizza as a stealth vector for vegetables at home.”

“So, I’m guessing it will be fish and chips for him then?” he surmised, the amusement plainly evident in his tone. “On the bright side, vegetables are really more of a supplement for canids. It’s not like he’s putting himself at any real risk. Most pups go through this kind of phase.”

Tess laughed at his comment, “Oh I know all that, but I have to set an example for my patients after all.” Her tone shifted to one of mock sincerity as she continued, “How can I possibly berate them for their lifestyle choices when I’ve failed to instill those same virtues in my own offspring?”

Dave once again shook his head in amusement, “Then we’ll just have to set the example together. The restaurant sounds fine,” he said as he sent off a quick text message to Carol.

One task completed, he was able to redirect the conversation. “Now, as for the Rey’s, there’s not much more to add from yesterday. Janet is stable, and we seemed to have caught the hemolytic incompatibility early enough that it won’t be an issue.”

“She hasn’t experienced any cramping or further nausea then?” Tess asked, and Dave could hear the scribbling of pen on paper in the background, the arctic fox once again showing her propensity to take copious notes regarding her patients.

“We have her on vitamin B-six and doxylamine for the nausea, but I’m going to start weaning her off of it starting next week,” Dave said without hesitation. He had been scrutinizing all of Janet’s test results since she had been admitted, and knew her vitals better than his own. “You know better than I do that the first thirty days are the diciest when it comes to nausea for most canines.”

“Uggh, don’t remind me, Dave,” Tess added dejectedly, the memory of her issues during pregnancy still apparently vivid in her mind. “I may as well have moved our bed in the bathroom just for the sake of expediency that first month.”

Dave chuckled at the comment. He remembered the condition the arctic fox had been in on several mornings during the early parts of her pregnancy when she  was still picking up shifts at Zootopia General during the time that Dave was still working there as part of his second residency.

“Fortunately, Janet doesn’t appear to be quite that bad,” he added after a moment. “Aside from some minor weakness and lethargy that we traced to the diet we had placed her on, everything seems to be progressing well.”

Quickly checking the schedule for the next few days, Dave made a quick note before continuing, “I’m going to give her another ultrasound tomorrow, and then probably every three days until we have a better handle on how to proceed. On that note, they are priming the new Sequel system as we speak, and we should be able to start screening Tommy’s genome for red flags today, and soon we’ll also have some preliminary sequence results from the fetus as well.”

Dave heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end of the line. He knew she was about to object to the risky method he’d employed for getting that fetal tissue sample. Anything she had to say to him about it would only be a tenth of what he deserved for taking such a risk, but he was still confident that it had been the right decision. Even still, he was no stranger to the results that came about when a physician believed himself to be beyond reproach, so he braced himself for whatever warranted critiques she had for him.

“I still can’t believe you did that, Dave.”  Tess quietly let the statement hang for several moments. She took another breath and sighed out,  “It should help in the long run...provided that there’s anything you can do, but… I know you knew how risky that was.”

“I know,” Dave replied quietly as he closed his eyes and silently contemplated his decision.

Tess was quiet too, and it was several long seconds before she hesitant spoke up again. “Have you told Janet and Tommy what the real odds are for this to work out?”

Dave sighed again as the all too likely reality of the situation once again settled on his shoulders. “Janet asked about it yesterday, and I was honest that the odds are slim. She asked that I not mention it to Tommy, and as long as he doesn’t ask himself, I’m okay with that.” He shook his head as the the numbers ran through his head, the odds stacked up against the Rey’s pup bordered on infinity. 

“Janet’s probably right on this one, Dave.” Tess added, “He’s stronger than he let’s on, but from what I know, anything relating to Janet, and their pup by extension, means the world to him.”

“That matches what Janet said yesterday.” Dave frowned, remembering the other wolf’s words from yesterday. “Based on what you know of them, what would Tommy’s response be if they lost the pup?”

“Frankly, it would destroy him.” Tess said without hesitation, “He’d probably need to be sedated immediately, and almost certainly put on some kind of antidepressant and antianxiety medication for a long, long time. As long as Janet’s still there, I’m sure she can bring him back, but if something happens to her as well...”

Tess’ voice trailed off but he could hear her quickened breaths coming over the line. Dave felt pressure in his chest and understood the implications immediately. “We’ll lose him too.”

“It’s almost a certainty,” Tess added glumly. “You know that pair bonding varies in strength even within a species? Well those two have one of the deepest one’s I’ve ever seen. Even Janet’s bond is uncommonly strong for a wolf, but Tommy’s bond to her makes most vulpine pair bonds seem like the emotional equivalent of a high school crush.”

Dave considered Tess’ new insights into the couple before replying. “Thanks for letting me know, Tess. That matches up with what my own instincts have been telling me since I met the two of them,” he sighed but chose to focus on what he could do to help the pair. “We’ll have to tread carefully if something happens, but do you mind if I focus on making sure that doesn’t happen?” 

“I’d kick your tail into next week if you did anything else,” Tess said with a laugh that successfully re-lightened the mood. “Forward me the ultrasound tomorrow, as well as anything you find from the genetic screen.” There was more scribbling in the background as tess added to her notes. “Do you have a better handle on when you’ll be able to figure out a treatment regime...provided it’s possible, of course?”

Dave thought about the questions for a few seconds, “I think we’ll have an inkling by Tuesday or Wednesday next week. At least we’ll know about any obvious genetic issues then. From there it’s all going to come down to weather on not we have the capability to fix or replace what’s broken.” Dave shook his head, the seemingly infinite uncertainties crowding his thoughts. “If the Spirits are kind, we can use the gene therapies that we already have to fix the issues. If they’re not, we’ll be flying by the seat of our pants, but I’m not giving up on being able to fix this, Tess. I promise you that.”

“I know you won’t, Dave. It’s why I sent them to you in the first place.” Tess said in a soft voice. “I’ll let you get back to work...and I’ve got my first patients of the day arriving now, but remember! Regular updates!”

“You got it, Tess, and I’ll see you Monday,” he said before disconnecting the call. 

Tess was right about the need to stay in regular contact with her.  The call had been valuable on many levels and that information about Tommy might unfortunately prove invaluable if the grim odds became reality.

He shook out of his ruminations as it was almost 9:00 am already, and quickly padded over to the staff lounge to pour himself a good sized mug of coffee before heading up to the second floor and entered into the main boardroom for Abby’s meeting. He once again chuckled at the lunacy of having been declared a professor by Doug, but at least his first bout in this role would be with a student he knew well and respected.

As he had expected, Abby was already present, and she had set up her talk well in advance of the meeting’s start. She was however pacing back and forth along the front of the room, her expression and scent a mix of anxiety and fear. He could hear Elizabeth trying to comfort the wolf from her perch on Abby’s shoulder, but everyone in the room had been through this trial in the past, and as such knew that words were never enough to relieve the pressure of these kind of meetings.

Doug and Donnie were doing their best to not agitate the grad student, and were setting up the video conference system, probably to allow one or more of the professors over at ZU to attend without having to leave the comfort of their office. Doug’s ears twitched towards Dave as he entered, and a smile spread over the buck’s muzzle. 

“Glad to see you’ve accepted your fate, Dave,” he said with mock severity before motioning towards one of the secondary displays mounted on the wall. “We’re just waiting for Doctor Reed to bridge in so we can start.”

Dave cocked his head to the side, “Hal Reed, the biology chair from ZU?”

Donnie nodded his sizable head in reply, “The one and only. Somehow Ms. Lupercal managed to convince him to be on her advisory committee, but she never said how she managed the feat.”

The words managed to garner a laugh from the she wolf, as she stopped pacing to glare at her supervisor. “There was no convincing involved, Donnie. He just never gets asked, and he knows to keep his head down so that no one even tries.”

The assembled mammals chuckled at the comment just as the screen came to life, and a bespeckled otter appeared on the screen. Although Dave had never met Dr. Reed, the mammal had garnered many accolades over the years for his research in cytology. Much of Abby’s work was a direct continuation of a research project that he and Elizabeth had been the leads on. 

“Good morning, Hal!” Elizabeth said warmly, and the otter squinted at his screen to make out her small form. Elizabeth waved from Abby’s shoulder, and Hal smiled when he figured out her location.

“Hello, Beth!” he greeted his colleague, in a surprisingly deep voice for so small a mammal. “How’s the research going in that windowless dungeon you call a lab?”

Beth laughed in response, the joke obviously having some history with the pair, “You know you’d give your right paw to have access to half the toys I get to play with.”

“Why would I do that?” Hal asked good naturedly, “All I have to do is ask you to run a sample or two, and I get the results emailed to me. All of the benefits, and no amputation required.”

Beth harrumphed in false indignation, “At least you have good taste in wine, Hal. That’s the only reason your stuff gets priority with me. On that note, John asked me to thank you for the last bottle you sent over. He’s not normally one for Merlot, but that particular vintage was delicious.”

Doctor Reed waved a paw dismissively, “It took your husband long enough to come around regarding the virtues of red wine, but enough of that.” The smile remained on his face, but his attention focused on Abby, “Good morning, Ms. Lupercal. I understand that you’ve been  _ very  _ busy in the lab these past few months.”

Looking over to Donnie, the otter sighed theatrically, “How is it that you always get the diligent grad students, Donnie? All of mine are good, but the work reports that you send regarding Abby’s performance put my romp to shame.”

Donny gave a low rumble of laughter, and gestured around him with his hoof, “It’s this place, Hal. Most mammals don’t want to step one hoof in this building.” He motioned towards Abby, and smiled broadly. “When a student like Abby comes along, and actually asks to work here, you know they are something special.”

“Careful now, Donnie,” Doug jokingly cautioned. “Praise like that might go to her head, and then where would we be? From the reports I get, she does at least half the work downstairs.”

Once again, there was a round of laughter from the assembled mammals, although Abby seemed more embarrassed by the attention and praise than anything else.

Donnie cleared his throat, and motioned for the group to take their seats. “Regardless, we should get moving. Hal, I don’t think you’ve met Dave yet, have you?”

The otter looked towards Dave, and his smile grew slightly wider, “No I haven’t, and welcome aboard, Doctor Hawthorne.  I meant to reach out earlier this week, but things have been so chaotic it slipped my mind.” He made a brief note before looking back at Dave. “We’ll be having a formal event later on in the month, but you should know that both you and Doctor Cerval have already ruffled some fur here.” He laughed briefly before continuing, “Some of the more...entrenched faculty was hoping to foist ALL of the first year classes on you two, and they were crushed when they found out that your positions are like the rest of the faculty from the Honeywell staff, and don’t involve undergraduate teaching at this time.” The otter’s expression shifted to a more capricious nature, “Fair warning to you, Professor Kyme over in the Department of Medicine probably won’t be so lenient. She wants to leverage your surgical training ASAP. Pediatric surgeons are a fairly rare bunch.”

Dave shook his head at the news, “Thank the Spirits for letting me dodge the first year classes,” he said with real relief evident in his tone. Giving himself a shake, he nodded his head respectfully towards Hal, “and thanks for the warning...I guess being cross-appointed to two faculties just means double the work.” he said with a laugh. “Regardless, it’s good to meet you as well. I don’t know how frequently Jim and I will be gracing your hallowed halls, but I did manage to get roped into some teaching responsibilities already.” Dave motioned towards Abby with a free paw.   
  
“And on that note, we should get moving,” Doug said, and the assembled mammals quieted down. “This committee meeting is to update the Advisory and Examination Board on the progress of the doctoral candidate, Abbigail Lupercal, as well as to schedule her comprehensive examination.” Doug motioned for Abby to take her place at the front of the room. “We’ll begin with a research update, and then move onto the details of the examination. Ms. Lupercal, the floor is yours.”   
  
“Thank you, Doctor Wilson, and my thanks to all of the committee members for giving me the chance to go over some of my findings to date,” Abby said confidently, and Dave was pleased to see that, in contrast to her nervousness from earlier, the wolf displayed nothing but a calm and professional demeanor as she went over her recent findings.

Dave and the other committee members, were silent as Abby presented numerous figures and tables outlining her work on the divergence between  _ Canis _ and  _ Vulpes _ genomes, and both her  _ in silico _ and  _ in situ _ hybridization of the various genetic markers were both revolutionary adaptations of the previous methods, but also beautifully elegant solutions to behold.    
  
Dave was already familiar with the research, so he focused more on Abby’s tone and delivery, making note of her improved presentation skills. She did still tend to use filler words when she lost her train of thought, but other then that, both her research and presentation were top notch. Things were fairly normal until Abby got to her most recent work. 

“Here we see the full karyotype of an adult male  _ Vulpes vulpes _ who was admitted to the Centre Tuesday evening with his mate, a standard  _ Canis lupus _ female.” She brought up the normal chromatin, and the next slide aligned Tommy’s chromosomes with their counterparts. “As you can see, the chromatin of the male is highly divergent from the typical red fox, and we were able to determine that his genome is in a stable tetraploid state across all cell types and tissues.”

There was a bark of laughter from Doctor Reed, interrupting Abby as she was going to describe the details of the karyotype analysis and preliminary sequence data.

“Very funny, Ms. Lupercal, but can we get back to your actual research” he said after composing himself. “I do enjoy the occasional joke in something as stuffy as a committee meeting, but we don’t want to waste too much time with it.”

There was a profound silence in the room, as the Centre’s staff shared a knowing look. Doug was the first to respond, and the rabbit cleared his throat before speaking. “Hal, none of us are laughing here,” he said, and there was no mirth in his voice this time around as he gestured towards the image on screen. “That mammal, his mate, and their  _ unborn pup _ are staying just down the hall from us.”

Everyone saw Doctor Reed’s eyes widen in shock, and the skin visible around his eyes and nose visibly paled at Doug’s pronouncement.   
  
“My God!” he exclaimed after a moment, “You’re serious aren’t you?”

Abby forwarded her presentation to the next slide, which to Dave’s surprise was obviously the karyotype of the fetus. Abby must have convinced Jason to give her some of his cell cultures...and probably only a pawful of hours previously. The young wolf must have been up all night to not only find a cell undergoing mitosis, but to fix, stain and sort out the chromatin.

“This image shows the karyotype of the fetus. The cells were obtained via amniocentesis and then multiplied in tissue culture,” she said smoothly, and every eye in the room was fixated on the images. To the untrained eye, they looked identical to the normal wolf chromosomes, but to the mammals in this room the differences stood out like a sore thumb.

“Incredible,” The words from Hal were barely above a whisper as he took in the details. Dave looked towards the monitor, and he saw the otter squint his eyes, trying to make out more of the details. “Ms. Lupercal,” he said after a moment, “Can you place both the father’s and the fetus’ karyotypes side by side?”

Abby nodded and exited out of the presentation mode. With a few clicks, she had the two images beside each other, and once again Doctor Reed was the first to speak, “There!” he said excitedly. “Do you see it?”

“See what, Hal?” Donny said after a moment.

“Look at the banding pattern on all the  _ Vulpes _ -derived chromatin between the father and the fetus,” he said while vigorously pointing towards the screen with one of his paws.

The all looked back at the images, and Abby gave a short intake of breath when she saw what Professor Reed had noticed. “They’re identical!” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

Elizabeth was the next to notice the oddity, “There’s not a hint of homologous recombination in  _ ANY _ of the chromosomes that came from him. They’re completely fixed.”

To say that this revelation was unexpected was an understatement. Homologous recombination was one of the driving forces of genome diversity and evolution, where whole segments of one chromosome could be swapped with the corresponding region of its counterpart. Structurally, the chromosome pairs were generally very similar, but minor differences still allowed researchers to tease apart the individual contributors. This event only occurred during meiosis, when the gametes were being formed, but to have not one single event over all 39 chromosome pairs was yet another statistical impossibility. 

Dave’s mind was running over the revelation, and more importantly, how it would affect the fetus. Effectively, the chromosomes that she inherited from Tommy were 1:1 copies of his own genome. She had received the full 39 chromosomes from him...well and a couple of microchromosomes it seemed, and the lack of recombination meant that she had avoided one of the biggest risks associated with the process.   
  
“This still doesn’t explain how the father is still alive, let alone how the two parents were able to conceive,” Hal said as he continued to scrutinize the images. “But the additional genomic stability that this would impart is significant.” The otter waved a paw dismissively as he continued, “In the long term, it’s highly detrimental, of course. It would reduce the genomic variability considerably from generation to generation, but in this case, it meant that the fetus wouldn’t have to worry about recombination-induced deletions.”

Hal looked over at Donnie, his curiosity obviously piqued, “Do you have sequence information for either the father or the fetus?”

Donnie nodded in reply, “A preliminary assembly was completed yesterday, but it’s highly fragmented. The full sequencing run should be annotated any time now, and we have single cell sequencing runs from the fetal cells on the go.”

“You don’t waste time, I’ll give you that.” Professor Reed said shaking his head in disbelief. 

Doug laughed quietly at the comment. “You have no idea, Hal. We also scooped an entire Sequel system from Doctor Messange yesterday just to help with these patients.”

The otter’s eyes widened once again in surprise, “So the rumor mill was right on that one.” he said after shaking his head, “I don’t have a copy of the paperwork yet, but I heard that Derek had managed to get his hooves on a rather sizable grant in exchange.”

Doug shrugged at the comment, knowing full well that the money was effectively meaningless to them, “Only about three million and change. It will be a small price to pay if we can help this couple.”

The assembled mammals nodded in agreement, and Dave was once again struck by the solidarity of every member of the Centre’s staff. If it were possible, they would do whatever it took to help the Rey’s, but as always he silently prayed to anyone that might be listening that their efforts would be enough.

“On that note, we may as well not beat around the bush,” Donnie said and motioned with his hoof towards Abby. “Hal, right now we need Abby in the lab, and not locked away in the library studying for her comps. Her expertise in  _ Canis _ and  _ Vulpes _ cell biology is sorely needed right now.” The bison gestured to the other committee members, “I’d like to motion that we defer her examination until the next term. She will be skirting the edge of the deadlines, but I think you’ll all agree that this situation should take precedence.”

Hal considered Donnie’s request for a moment, “I’m not a fan of putting things like the comps off. If something happens and she goes over her term limit, it could jeopardize her degree as a whole, but if she’s willing to take that risk, I agree that this situation is...unique to say the least.”

Dave looked at the younger wolf, and he could already see that she had made her decision long before the meeting had started. “Well, Abby, the decision’s yours.”

Abby gave a snort of laughter, “Like there was any doubt. The Re...the patients need me more than I need a sheet of parchment,” she said, almost forgetting to omit the Rey’s names from the discussion. 

“Very well then, Ms. Lupercal,” Professor Reed said formally. “I second the motion. Do any of the committee members disagree with allowing Ms. Lupercal to defer her comprehensive exam until the next term?”

Silence and shaking heads were the only reply, and Hal made a note before continuing, “Very well, we’ll set up a meeting four months from now, and work out the details then. Ms. Lupercal, I do recommend that you begin studying as soon as you are able, but these mammals are going to need all the help they can get if I’m not mistaken. In the meantime, I’m  _ very _ interested in hearing the rest of your presentation.”

The assembled mammals shared a round of laughter before focusing their attention on the results of Abby’s research. The wolf, resumed her presentation from where she had left off, and everyone was once again enraptured with the mystery that was the Rey’s.

* * *

 

The remainder of the meeting had proceeded without quite as many surprises, and every member of the committee had been more than satisfied with Abby’s progress. As was also expected, the majority of the physically present mammals had made a beeline for the lab as soon as the meeting was concluded, with only Doug returning to the clinic. The lab mammals were already plotting their next steps as they rode the elevator down to the basement. 

“Were you able to tease apart the individual chromosomes, Donnie?” Beth asked from her perch on Abby’s shoulder.

Donnie nodded, as he checked his phone for messages, “I’m pretty sure the latest assembly was able to differentiate between the four chromosome copies for all but two of them. It would appear that chromosome twelve is almost completely homologous across all four versions, while chromosome sixteen does have some polymorphisms, but most of it is highly conserved. By and large, the contributions from his parents are quite divergent, and the sequences were fairly easy to filter apart”

“That’s good to hear,” Dave said, already making a mental note to use the PackBio data to see if the chromosomes differed in their epigenetic state instead of their physical sequence. “It really is looking like Tommy’s genome is operating more like a traditional diploid one as opposed to the standard polyploid...but how it’s all being regulated, I haven’t the foggiest.”

“We’ll need to work quickly to identify any problems, but the divergence in his genome might work out in our favor,” Donny mused openly, “If we can target the genes of major concern and edit out  _ most _ of them, it should minimize the effect of the internal duplication.”

A soft chime sounded as the elevator came to a stop, and the group made their way to the airlock, quickly disrobing and beginning the standard decontamination procedure. 

“There’s a limit as to how many vectors we can use, Donnie,” Dave said as he worked the shampoo into his coat, passing the bottle over to Abby in the adjacent shower stall, “The biggest editing job we’ve previously done was just three genes. Unless something really surprising happens, this is going to take a lot more. We’ll have to triage things and deal with the most critical conditions first.”

“It might not be as bad as were painting things,” Abby said after a moment. “I mean, if the genome was acting  _ normally _ Mr. Rey probably wouldn’t be alive, and the fetus certainly wouldn’t be. Regardless, I think that we should prioritize the maternal contribution if there’s any incompatibility found.”

“Unless it’s those quirks that give the paternal contribution it’s stability, Abby,” Elizabeth’s voice chimed in from one of the small mammal shower stalls. “We can’t discount the fact that, somehow Tommy’s genome is remarkably stable...Hell, now that we’ve seen the lack of recombination, it’s basically static. That has to be playing a role in this.”

“One step at a time, Beth. One step at a time.” Donnie rumbled as he turned off the shower, and made his way to the airlock’s large fur dryer. “For now, I want everyone’s eyes on that genome sequence. Hunt down every known disease marker and mutation you can think of. I want a full report from everyone by the end of the day, and we’ll pass that data off to Percy so that he and the rest of the night shift can start screening the fetus’ sequence for red flags.”

As Dave turned off his shower, he was once again struck by the dedication of the mammals at the Centre. Even with this unity of purpose, the same question resonated through his mind.   
  
_ “Will it be enough?” _

“It has to be.” He mumbled to himself as he began drying his fur, and readying himself for the task ahead.

* * *

 

“I can’t believe Argent didn’t show up!” Carol complained loudly as she and Colleen entered into the changing room; the afternoon training session with the other AMCQC instructors having wrapped up a few minutes prior, and both canines were still panting slightly following the exertion. The private instructor sessions were one of the rare times where they could really push themselves, and they always made the most of it. “That prick has a thorough beating with his name on it, and he’s not going to puss out of it, even if I have to break down his front door to administer it.”

The maned wolf laughed at Carol’s antics as she began disrobing to head into the shower. “What? Taft didn’t tell you?” she began innocently. “He suspected you’d want some payback, so he found a new task for Argent’s skills. With the loss of WO Watterman, the Medowlands ROTC program needed a new mentor, and Argent was selected for the position; at least for the next month.”

Carol turned to face Lupe, her eyes widening in surprise before she burst into laughter. “Miles is playing babysitter?” she asked after regaining control of herself, shaking her head in disbelief. “He hates kids… I feel bad for them, but I’m still going to kick that cat’s ass the next time I see him.”

Coleen chuckled at Carol’s vehemence. “And there’s the reason why the Captain banished Argent for a while. He knew full well that you’d be out for blood...possibly quite literally in this instance.”

“Oh please, I’m not going to cause any  _ permanent  _ damage.” Carol said with mock innocence, but the two knew each other far too well for Colleen to fall for that ruse.

“Riiiight,” Lupe said, her eyes becoming little more than slits as she appraised Carol, “and would your definition if temporary be on the order of days, weeks, or months of recovery?”

Carol snorted in amusement as she entered the shower and began wetting down her fur. “Yesterday, we’d be talking months. Today, he’s down to weeks, with particular attention being paid to his overactive groin.”

Colleen shook her head, and made use of the adjacent stall. “Oh, I got an email from Debbie yesterday,” she said happily. “Her latest deployment is wrapping up, and she should be back in Zootopia by the end of the month.”

Carol gave a sigh of relief at the news. Hearing that the water buffalo was heading home was welcome news. “Thank the Spirits!” she said “We’ve been without a second large mammal instructor for too long. Taft’s had to handle almost all of it since she shipped out.”    
  
Lupe, smiled as she scrubbed her fur before looking back towards Carol. “So are you going to be joining us at Mac’s tonight?” she asked, raising her voice to be heard over the cascading water. “This is a rare chance to have the Captain pay the tab two nights in a row.”

The smile faded from Carol’s face as she paused from working the lather into her coat. “No, not tonight. I need to help Dave with something.”

Lupe’s ears twitched as she noted the change in the coyotes tone. “You don’t seem too happy about it. What’s up?”

“It’s just something that he needs to do for a patient, but it’s going to tear him up inside.” she said after a moment before giving herself a shake and beginning to rinse the shampoo from her fur. Her next words barely reached a whisper, “It always tears him up.”

Colleen’s ears pinned back at her colleagues tone, “Why does he stay at that godsforsaken place? Why do you let him?” she asked, shaking her head. “Neither one of you says much about it, but sometimes... I’ve seen mammals with full on PTSD who look better than the two of you.”

Carol shrugged, and turned off the water before grabbing a towel to begin drying herself off, “Duty, responsibility, pigheadedness, take your pick,” she said before forcing a laugh they both knew was false. “It’s who he is, I guess.”

She paused while she moved to the fur dryer, her ears pinning back as she once again contemplated what this evening would involve for her mate. “The truth is that I hate that place. I hate what it does to him; to everyone who works there, but I know that none of them will quit. It’s just not who they are.”

Colleen looked at the coyote closely for a moment, expecting Carol to continue on, but she was greeted with silence. Moving up behind Carol, the maned wolf rested a paw on Carol’s shoulder. “I guess soldier’s aren’t the only ones with battle scars.”

Carol sighed, and leaned forward, pressing her forehead into the wall for support. “Yeah, we’ve both got our share of those, but when I wake up at night and hear him crying in his sleep, or mumbling  _ ‘I’m sorry’ _ over and over, what the fuck am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, Latrans,” Lupe said after a moment before removing her paw. “Just being there is sometimes all you can do.”

Carol took a deep breath before pushing herself back upright, and continued drying out her fur. “And that’s what I’m going to do tonight,” she said, the conviction returning to her voice.

Once again, she’d do what was needed to put him back together, as they both had done for each other so many times over the years. Colleen’s words had been true: they were both scarred on the inside, and while time might fade them, they were unlikely to ever disappear. 

* * *

 

After saying goodbye to the other instructors, Carol had driven over to the Honeywell Centre, arriving just after seven. As she pulled into the parking lot, she could see Dave standing by the front doors, a small box clenched in his paws. 

She felt a lump form in her throat as she looked at his face. All the energy that had been there when she had left him that morning had drained away, leaving him tired and haggard. She was relieved when his ears twitched towards her as she came to a stop in front of him, and she saw a real smile spread across his face at her presence.   
  
_ “Sometimes just being there is all that it takes,” _ she thought to herself as he opened the door  and fell into the passenger seat beside her. Not giving him a chance to speak, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. He sighed contentedly at her touch.

“You hanging in there, Hon?” she asked as she felt him relax. She released her embrace of him and cupped his face with her paws. Some of the glow had returned to his golden eyes. There was still that telltale sadness in them, but for now she’d managed to push back the darkness.

“I’m good, Love. We made some real progress today, but I’m kinda dwelling on other things right now,” he said while motioning towards the box with one of his paws.

She nodded in understanding. Wanting more than anything to stay there and hold him for the rest of the night, she knew full well the weight of the mission they were on, and there was no benefit to be gained in delaying it. Reluctantly, she returned her paws to the steering wheel, put the car in gear, and exited the Centre’s parking lot. “We’re headed for the Rainforest District, right?” Carol asked as she made her way to the nearest highway on ramp.

Dave nodded, and punched in the address to the car’s GPS system. “Yeah, they’re on Kapok Avenue, four, three, five, seven. It’s only about twenty minutes from here.”

“Do they know you’re coming?” Carol asked after a moment.

Dave nodded, then dropped his gaze to focus on the container in his paws. “I called them just before I left the Centre,” he said, a little distance creeping into his voice as one of his paws gently caressed the box.

Carol fought the urge to glance at him directly, but she could still see out of the corner of her eye just how gently he was holding the box. Even without looking, hearing the subtle tremors in his voice and smelling the grief in his scent brought back that lump in her throat.  


_ “Even now, he’s trying to comfort the dead...or himself,” _ she thought as she reached over and clasped his paw in her own. For all the good that they had accomplished, this was yet another reason why she resented the Honeywell’s legacy. From her combat experience, she knew all too well the necessity of de-mammalizing your opponents. They ceased to be living, breathing individuals, and just became a silhouette in a scope, an anonymous statistic, or another notch on a tally sheet. It was the only way one could do it over and over without becoming a monster. For Dave, and the other mammals at the Centre, the Honeywell’s decision to ensure that every cub would receive a name and a proper burial stripped away much of this psychological protection, and made this final task all the more difficult. They weren’t just cold numbers on a page once they’d been given an identity. The name made them an individual, someone who might have been, and a potential that was now lost forever.

In this case, the parents had probably been the ones to name their child, but the result was still the same. She knew that for Dave, this was another failure; another one of his  _ ‘little ones’ _ that he couldn’t save. His scent told her that, just as clearly as his somber expression. She felt him squeeze her paw in return, and she forced a smile on her face.

“You’re not alone here, Dave,” she said simply, and she saw the corners of his mouth twitch upwards momentarily before his expression reverted back to a neutral one. 

He took a shuddering breath before replying, “Thanks for being here...I think I’m going to need you more than I realized on this one.” His gaze returned to the box in his lap, “I’ve known this couple for years, and even though it’s childish, I just can’t help but think how fucking unfair it all is.” Dave shook his head sadly at the pronouncement, “I know all the reasons why it’s impossible for them to have a kit of their own, and I’ve wrapped myself in that blanket of cold logic again and again, but there’s still a part of me that just wants to rail against nature itself for what they’ve gone through.”

Carol squeezed his paw again, the slight growl edging his voice telling her just how deeply this was affecting him, “You’re not some machine, Dave. You can’t just quit feeling, and the fact that you  _ do _ care so much is what makes you such a good doctor. I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

Dave chuckled at her words, and looked towards her, the beginnings of a real smile on his muzzle. “I never thought I’d be envious of Jason, but right now, not caring would be a blessing.”   
  
Carol gave a snort of amusement before clicking her tongue at Dave in reproach, “None of that you silly wolf. You’re doing this because you care, and that’s the wolf I fell in love with.” she released his paw, and raised it to his muzzle, turning his head to face her own, “Go and be there for your patients. Grieve with them, and then come back to me. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Dave nodded in reply, and once again he caressed the box, but he didn’t say anything more. 

They spent the rest of the drive in silence save for the occasional notification from the GPS, each of them lost in their own thoughts. All too soon, Carol pulled to a stop in front of a older townhouse development designed to look like it was carved from a single gigantic tree. All the units were well lit; the artificial light reflecting an earthy ambiance off the dense foliage that permeated the Rainforest District. 

As luck would have it, they had arrived in between the frequent artificial showers that served to maintain the high humidity of the district, and Dave took a steadying breath before looking over at his mate. She didn’t need to be told what he needed, as she could see it in his eyes. She once again leaned over and wrapped him in an embrace, trying to shoulder some of his burden. 

They just stayed that way for a long while before Dave finally pulled away, opened the passenger door, and stepped out onto the sidewalk. He gazed back a Carol, and gave her a nod and a sad smile before walking to the stairs, and making his way up to the address of his patients.

Carol could see the change in his gait as he climbed those stairs, each one adding just a little bit more weight onto his shoulders. By the time he had reached the front door, his shoulders were already hunched, but he gave himself a shake and straightened himself out before knocking on the door.

She couldn’t see the occupants from her position, but when the door opened, she saw Dave kneel down, which implied their being one of the smaller sized species of Zootopia. She knew that he was probably exchanging kind words with them, before delivering to them the remains of their kit, but it was when she saw two small paws wrap her mate in an embrace that his control finally shattered, and he shared in their grief. 

“Damn that place to Hell,” she growled to herself as she watched her mate’s frame shudder while he openly wept; her own tears threatening to fall at the sight. She knew her anger was misplaced, but seeing him once again fall apart was like a dagger to her heart. The two of them were truly linked, and she couldn’t help but resent the pain that his work caused. There was no way to defend him from this and she could only watch as another piece was torn out of him as he tried to comfort his patients.   
  
Seeing first paw just how badly this hurt him, and knowing it was inevitable that he’d be forced to perform this duty again, she made a vow to herself. “I’m not letting him do this alone again.”   
  
It was taking all her control not to rush over to comfort him, but she had given her word that she would give both Dave and the couple some privacy, and even observing the tragic tableaux from this distance seemed like an invasion on that promise.   
  
The scene dragged on for what seemed like an eternity, before those tiny paws released her mate. After shaking the paw of one of the mammals, Dave stood back up. Once the door was closed, he leaned against it tiredly, and his shoulders shook as the after effects of the meeting took hold.    
  
It was the sight of him the moment he turned around that had her jumping out of the car and racing towards her mate. His once golden eyes had become dead, empty things; utterly devoid of the glow that was everything she loved about him. She could see in an instant the gaping wound that had been torn in him, and she instinctively knew that he wouldn’t make it back to the car on his own. His steps had been leaden as he made his way back towards the sidewalk, seemingly unaware of his mate’s presence until she wrapped him in a fierce embrace.   
  
He didn’t react for several seconds, staring dumbly off into the distance, but then, with a high pitched whine, he went limp in her arms; his body and mind having finally reached their breaking point. His wracking sobs filled her ears as she took on his considerably greater weight. It threatened to drag them both down to the ground, but she was strong, and she braced herself as her own tears flowed freely. She had already vowed to do whatever it took to put him back together, but in that moment there was only one thought that rang through her mind as she held him in silence.

  
_ “I will  _ never _ let him fall.” _

_ _

* * *

**End Notes:**

Due to the lateness of this chapter, I’m going to only include some older musings regarding science in Zootopia, but there will be some science to discuss from this chapter, fear not:   
  
Now before I delve into the usual end notes, I wanted to mention that, when I was plotting out the story for Lost Causes, this was the original ending. The story started with Isara and William, and was going to end with the final scene you see here. This didn’t stay that way for long, and this chapter merely became a way of closing off the Clawson’s arc, while continuing to show the dedication of the mammals at the Honeywell Centre, but also to give some more details into how Carol feels about the effect that working there has on Dave, and all the other staff.

It was just over a year ago that I decided to write LC&BD, and ending it here just seemed too tragic, and also it didn’t allow me to teach as much of the science as I can.

Regardless, let’s move onto some science stuff. I’m going to repost an earlier segment, more as a reminder, but also to add in some extra points that I’ve considered over the last few months.    
  
**Genomic Research in Zootopia**

With regards to genomic research, I’m increasingly of the mind that a society like Zootopia would have access to a great deal more genetic information than what we possess, simply out of necessity. There are probably hundreds of sentient species (if not thousands) and there would be a very real need to have reference genomes for all of these. As with our own genome project, the results from this kind of research would help in the diagnosis and treatment of quite a few conditions, and represents a functional baseline for pure research to build upon.

Here’s where we run into a problem. To date, we’ve only sequenced the genomes of <50 mammalian species...that’s really it. Now we’ve often times sequenced multiple individuals within each species, particularly the ones where there is an economic interest involved (think animals used in agriculture), but overall we really have only scratched the surface of the mammalian diversity that’s out there.

...as i’ve mentioned before, we’ve invested hundreds of billions of dollars to do so.

In fact, the overwhelming majority of that money has gone towards researching one mammalian genome,  _ Homo sapiens _ (Humans).

I hope you’re starting to see the issue as it relates to Zootopia.

We’ve invested billions of dollars, as well as work hours towards understanding a single species...and a much smaller fraction towards understanding other species. As a result, we have made INCREDIBLE advances in the intervening decades, but as I wrote earlier, we still don’t have a complete picture of what makes us tick biochemically. There are still thousands of proteins contained in our genome that we have no idea what their function is, and that’s when we’ve focused very hard on one species.

In Zootopia we’ve seen that resources are finite; have and have-nots exist. We don’t have specific details on the economics...or even real demographic numbers, but the fact remains that the ability of researchers to focus their efforts on any single species is far less than what we can get away with.

In my mind this would lead to an issue of “Jack of all Trades, Master of None”, where the amount of genetic information available in Zootopia would be much greater than our own, but their understanding of that information would, at best, be on par with our own, but more likely significantly behind our level of understanding. How could this be overcome? Well things get messy here, as there are 3 ways that they could deal with this.

  1. More money directed to basic research. Yes, as always this is the easiest solution. Fund more projects, generate more data, and work to increase the scale of research.
  2. In combination with #1, have more mammals enter into scientific research. Just throwing money at the problem won’t solve anything unless there are sufficient bodies to perform the research. By increasing the number of scientists, the amount of research done will also increase, but as with money, there are limits as to what you can achieve.
  3. Which brings us to #3, focusing resources on specific demographics. This is one that plays into the species dynamics of Zootopia. In a world of finite resources, prioritizing research would be key to discovering and applying new findings. Let’s start with the basics, 90% of the population is prey, and only 10% predator. Already this means that almost all the resources could be (in some ways justifiably directed away from an entire Class of mammals). Then within each group, sub-populations would vie for an increasingly small piece of the pie, and it’s quite likely that species with lower social standing (eg Foxes or Raccoons) would be even further marginalized.



Yes, the racial (species) tensions from the movie could well be influencing things in research as well...in fact from experience, I can guarantee that that they would be. From what we’ve seen of their society, mammals like foxes, mustelids, perhaps some rodent species would probably be the recipient of very little research dollars, and as a result, even from a medical perspective would be second class citizens. The odds are that there would be very limited species-specific research and drug discovery done on these mammals, and they’d probably rely more on research performed for the more “respected” species in Zootopia.

For genera such as  _ Vulpes _ , they’d probably have to rely on treatments and protocols designed for other canids, but this can lead to problems, as foxes do differ from  _ Canis _ species, both in terms of metabolism, but also in how they respond to certain classes of drugs. 

Of course, some aspects of medicine are pretty much species agnostic, so many surgical techniques could be used across the entire range of mammalian species. Where things get tricky is that, for fields such as anesthesiology, this may not be the case, and ensuring proper sedation can require far more than a back of the envelope calculation based on body weight. 

Effectively, I’d wager that for things like drug discovery and genomic research, these lower social status species would be about 10-20 years behind the larger or more respected classes, and this would have an effect on every aspect of their health. Their overall life expectancies might be as much as 30 percent lower than could be possible, and even things such as diet and nutrition guidelines might be based more on tradition than science. 

…God it’s depressing to think about, but we saw in the film that these kinds of species-specific prejudices do exist, and for the affected predator species in particular, the effect could be dramatic. Not only are they considered as less desirable member of society, they only represent a small fraction of the population.

Now that that’s out of the way, it back to the usual  **Science Time!** This chapter had quite a few terms and techniques being discussed, and I wanted to offer some more detailed explanations.   
  
**Validation Run:** Modern DNA sequencers have some kind of fluidic system involved with them. These fluids flow through extremely narrow tubes and a variety of detectors (based on charge, fluorescence, or time). What this means is that, when you buy one of these machines, there’s a bit more involved than just plugging them in. My lab recently bought one small model ( _ only  _ $150,000), and the setup took almost three hours, with two technicians involved. Once that was done, we had to run one sample in accordance with the company's very strict guidelines, or they wouldn’t guarantee any data generated by the system.   
  
Rejecting the validation run is vanishingly rare, particularly as it’s generally included in the price of the sequencer. Considering that the instant you hit start on one of these units, you basically kiss several thousand dollars worth of reagents goodbye (a full run on a HiSeq costs about $30,000 worth of reagents), a free run is not something to sneeze at.

**_In situ, in vitro, in silic_ ** **o:** This was brought up by WildeNick as he was editing this chapter. The first two terms have been in use for centuries, and are used to differentiate between experiments conducted in the natural location for an object or organism ( _ in situ _ ), or are conducted in an artificial environment, often times a test tube hence the term in  _ vitro _ (in glass). There are other terms that get used ex vivo, in vivo, and in modern times, in silico. This last term came about once computer simulations came into being, and referred to experiments occurring entirely inside of a computer (in silicon). 

**Reference vs** **_de novo_ ** **assembly and sequencing depth** : This was covered earlier, but I wanted to go over it again. Most next generation sequencing systems work by generating billions of fragments of DNA sequence. The length of these fragments ranges from as little as 36 base pairs, to over 100,000bp. Where these fragments come from is generally random, as the DNA being sequenced is either enzymatically (think molecular scissors) or physically fragmented (AKA sheared) and then it’s all up to random chance what gets sequenced.   
  
As so much of this is random chance, you need to generate far more than one genome’s worth of sequence in order to capture all the DNA in an organism. How much you need, depends on how you’re going to assemble the data, but generally we aim for a sequencing depth of between 10X (ten times the actual genome size of the organism) to over 100X.

If you already have a sequence for an organism, you can perform what’s known as a reference assembly. Basically, it’s like having the picture on a puzzle box to work with. You take the sequencing reads, and match them up to the known sequence. Since you have something to build on, you don’t need as much data to get the whole genome sequence, but the issue is that, if your sequence diverges too much from the reference, you can lose whole regions, or worse, erroneously assemble the sequence.

To get around this, a de novo (from new) assembly can be performed. The issue here is that you need a lot more depth, as you are assembling a puzzle with no picture on the box to work with. Confounding things is the presence of long repetitive regions in many species’ genomes, some of which can go on for over 10,000bp. When you have fragments that are only a few hundred bp in length, I think you can see the problem.

There are two ways to get around this. As is the case in Lost Causes, using a sequencing technology that creates long reads can help you bridge these repetitive regions. These are generally newer systems, but they don’t tend to generate as much data per run. For instance, a full run on an Illumina HiSeq (150bp read length) can generate over a trillion base pairs worth of sequence data. Conversely, the Sequel system caps out at about 64-100 billion base pairs. The difference is that the Sequel system creates reads that average over 10,000bp. 

**Growth Hormone Receptor:** This is a highly conserved mammalian receptor that is found in pretty well all sequenced species. It serves to detect the presence of somatotrpphin (more commonly called hGH or human growth hormone), which in turn regulates cell growth and division. 

**Mammalian Neuroplasticity:** This is an interesting aspect of mammalian neural development. Although it continues on throughout our lives, the brain is particularly adept at adapting to new sensory input and control during the early years. This is exemplified by instances where children are better able to adapt to things like missing limbs, and brain damage as a whole. Children take to things like language assimilation, and injury compensation far more easily than adults do, and this can be a big benefit for some conditions. In the case of the Trotter’s piglet, having their child begin using modern prostheses as soon as possible will allow her to more full assimilate them into what she’ll consider as normal life. Now there are still some aspects that she’ll be deficient in, as even the best replacement limbs are still generally deficient in such things as tactile feedback, flexibility and broad usage, but she’ll be able to master the use of these limbs far more easily than an adult who would be in a similar situation. 

**Homologous Recombination:** This is a key driver of genetic diversity in eukaryotic species. During meiosis (which produces the sperm and egg cell), it is possible for entire regions of chromosomes to be swapped for the content of the corresponding region of their sister chromatin. The allows for the true melding of the genomes from both the paternal and maternal contribution. 

If we think as the chromosomes as a book containing all the instructions for how to build a mammal, what this means is that (for diploid species) you have two copies of each book, and during meiosis, you cut out pager 20-200 from each book and swap them. Provided you swap the same region, or close to it at least, no information is lost, and everything works out fine.

...except when it doesn’t. If the recombination goes wrong, and one chromosome gets pages 40-200, while the other gets 20-200, it’s possible that critical genes can be lost. When this happens, the gamete either fails, or if it is fertilized, the embryo is non-viable. This is one of the main reasons why many hybrid species are infertile. Although the chromosomes for a lion and a tiger are  _ almost _ identical, they do differ in where many genes are located on the individual chromosomes.

To use the book analogy again, the two books contain all the same instructions, but have the chapters in a different order, or sometimes even have certain chapters contained in completely different books.

During recombination, this makes it almost a certainty that a recombination event will result in the loss of some genetic content, and as such the overwhelming majority of the gametes that are produced are non-viable. It’s only when chance favors the individual, that these events result in an individual with all the required genes.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll close things off here, and once again thank everyone who’s given this story a chance. Things will be speeding up in the timeline, as the focus will be on the Rey’s and their impossible hybrid. I won’t promise when chapter 15 will be out, but I will try to make it sooner than two months as was the case for the last two chapters. 
> 
> My thanks again go out to WIldeNick for editing yet another behemoth of a chapter. 
> 
> Finally, if you have any questions, please send me a message. I’ll try to get back to as soon as I can.
> 
> All the best,
> 
> eng050599


	15. Chapter 15: A Broken Heart and a Shattered Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone,
> 
> ...It’s been six months, and I truly regret having taken so long to get this chapter finished. I wish I could say that it took so long because of some breakthrough in the lab that sucked me into the time warp that is primary research, but the truth is that I ended up learning some important but painful truths, in addition to coming to terms with a good friend and colleague who is facing a serious medical condition. There will be no names shared, and I consider the matter closed, but I did want to explain briefly.
> 
> First off, Lost Causes and Broken Dreams is not on hiatus, and I have every intention of making it to the end. I will admit that, as the weeks went by, I thought I might very well have to go back to my first idea for where to end the story, but that wouldn’t be fair to all of you who have been so supportive of the story.
> 
> I’m not going to jinx things, but the most serious issues have been dealt with, and I hope to get back to a more sane writing schedule from here on out.
> 
> Okay, as some of you already know, this is the first fan community that I’ve been deeply involved in, to the point of actively creating content. Overall it was a wonderful experience, and I was generally very excited to be able to help out others over the past (almost) two years.
> 
> ...unfortunately, that desire to help others resulted in my getting wrapped up in some truly unfortunate events. I was completely naive about fan communities in general, and somehow over the past year or so, I ended up interacting with quite a few highly active members of the community. 
> 
> What started out with me trying to mediate a dispute, ended up spiraling into six month long hellscape, and it almost had me ready to just say ‘Fuck It!’ and walk away from all of it. I should have expected that, as in any community, personalities would clash...but I never expected this to hit such a toxic level. 
> 
> I will not pretend to be some poor innocent soul in this, as I made many mistakes, and ended up hurting people as a result. It wasn’t my intention to do so, but the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and I’m not going to minimize my part in how things went down.
> 
> It wasn’t a pleasant experience, but I did learn from it, both in terms of better understanding the dynamics of online social groups (I’m an introverted academic...socializing is generally way down on my list of things I want to do), but I also learned who I can count on as a friend, a collaborator, and even who’s willing to tell me I’m an idiot to my face when my desire to help blinds me to the bigger picture.
> 
> Those people made me remember what it was I loved about the film, and the world that was created as a result. Once that spark was rekindled, well I’m back, so that’s probably worth something.
> 
> So, I’m going to stop there, and bring things back to the topic at hand.
> 
> My usual thanks go out to WildeNick for editing this chapter. It’s a shorter one this time around, but I’m always grateful for his help. As always, I encourage you to give his Good Cops Like You, and Three Months a Fox a read, and I’m looking forward to new chapters.
> 
> I’d also like to give a shout out to Steve Gallacci for inviting me into his Nicole and Julius story, and letting to both of us explore some interesting societal possibilities for Zootopia through the eyes of two of our OCs, Celeste Whitefoot, and Carol Latrans. It was almost a year and a half ago when I saw the first review from Steve in relation to Chapter 4 of Lost Causes and Broken Dreams (the first “break” chapter). In a way, the first sentence summed up quite a bit of what was to follow:
> 
> “The Coyote Gal gave me a well-needed LOL”
> 
> As things ended up, we both created coyote OCs that represented both a shared history, but differing aspects of a culture to examine, and when the opportunity came up to dig deeper into this, I was 100% on board.
> 
> So far, we have two chapters complete, and it has been a pleasure to be able to work with him. I don’t mind saying that his enthusiasm and insight very much was part of the reason why I was able to shake off the drama, and get back to having fun when writing. If you’re interested in a story with a liiiittle less science when compared to LC&BD, give it a read. The whole story can be on both AO3 under his username, stevegallacci, and the chapters where I’ve been involved can be found in my Side Stories as chapters 8 and 9.

* * *

Regardless, I encourage everyone to give the story a try, as the dynamics between the characters is utterly fascinating. We have some...interesting plans for continuing the story arc, but my lips...or keyboard I guess,  
  
As always, I’d like to thank those of you who have taken the time to read and review the story so far.  
  
From AO3:  
  
Sams_Town: Again, thank you for your support. I still think about him daily, but it no longer inevitably leads to tears.  
  
JKnight97: I’m glad you’ve enjoyed both LC&BD, as well as the new collaborative work. Hopefully both stories will live up to your expectations.  
  
ChaoticRhymer: I hope that the explanation I provided helps to explain the overall population data as it relates to showing causation. If you do have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.  
  
PAMDirac: Yep having both a next gen sequencer installed as well as a bioanalyzer, there’s no way in hell I’d be skipping out on the validation run, but it provided a tangible sense of urgency to the process.  
  
MayaSerena: Thank you, and I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Mine was about a month prior to your message since I’m Canadian and we do weird things up here.  
  
WolfGuardMiestwin: The language issue is something that I’ve given some thought to, but outside of taking several months to create a new language based upon the facial structure present, I’ll just take the lazy option and go for English as the default.  
  
DrummerMax64: Sorry, you just had a chance to get caught up on the story, and then I take a surprise 6 month break. Hopefully things will be back to normal from here on out.  
  
d4t4m3: I tried to strike a balance between narrative and science, and I’m glad you found that the balance was in the right place.  
  
JDFowlerton: Someday, my grad students will give me a moment's rest, and then I’ll remember to go back and give that series another go.  
  
From FF.net:  
  
CreativeSpirit0163: If you still wish to discuss theology and evolutionary theory, I’m still open to having a nice discussion. Until then, I hope you’ll enjoy the new content.  
  
KittyKate22: I hope I gave you enough information for your own story, and I’ll look forward to reading it when it’s ready.  
  
Winter.Soul.95: I’ve learned that LC&BD appears to be one of those stories that you either fall in love with...or completely hate. Fortunately, you appear to have fallen into the former category.  
  
VonSpiker: Keep a firm grip on that pitchfork. This story tends to fight back.  
  
Cimar: As always I thank you for your help and support. THings got a little crazy for everyone, and I’m glad to see that things are moving in the right direction...now to actually catch up on like 80 What If chapters.  
  
jamdea: It would appear that my return to writing took a little detour, but I’m back and so I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I will try to make things a bit more stable and consistent from here on out.  
  
Tinbuzzard11: Tommy’s unique condition will become of great importance, but you don’t expect me to spoil things, do you? Hopefully the next chapter will come out far more quickly, and the only thing I can say about your own story is, give it a shot! I’ve learned so much over the last 19 months or so, and it’s all due to just trying.  
  
Well, thank you everyone for sticking with me on this crazy journey, and I am pleased to present Lost Causes and Broken Dreams Chapter 15

* * *

 

**Chapter 15: A Broken Heart and a Shattered Soul**

Aside from the steady beeping of the vast array of equipment in the operating room, there was an almost oppressive silence permeating the entire space. As she had been doing for the last two hours, Laura was carefully manipulating the probe she had inserted into the jaguar-cheetah cub’s femoral vein before threading it into the right atrium of his young heart.

This hadn’t been the original treatment plan for the patient, whom she had first started seeing just over 5 years ago. When Michael's parents, a cheetah and jaguar couple, had first visited the Honeywell Centre, they had already known that their son’s heart wasn’t working properly. Their OBGYN has referred them to Laura when a routine check-up in the third trimester had resulted in a trip to the ER. Even in the womb, the cubs heart had struggled to maintain any sense of a normal rhythm. Sometimes giving only a pawful of beats per minute, other times it would spike in excess of three hundred, and all the while, the atria would lose their ordered contraction and flutter ineffectually, as erratic nerve signals cascaded through the tissue.

Atrial fibrillation was a fairly common condition in older mammals, but when it occurred in cubs, the treatment options needed to be carefully considered. The first line of treatment was to use medication. Drugs to thin the blood and prevent clot formation due to its turbulent flow of through the chambers of the heart when its rhythm faltered, along with a combination of beta blockers and digoxin to help slow the heart rate down and keep the nerve impulses under control were the preferred choice.

In this case they had worked fine for almost five years, but the condition has returned with a vengeance earlier this evening. The family had been attending one of Michael’s soccer games, when the cub had simply collapsed on the field. Regular exercise was an important part of managing the condition, and he had been cleared by both Laura and their family physician to take part in the activity under close supervision.

That last part had almost certainly saved his life.  
  
Michael’s coach had been the first mammal to reach the cub, and the dhole had begun CPR within seconds by all accounts. One of the referees arrived shortly afterwards with an automated external defibrillator, and it had only taken a single shock to return the cub’s heart back to its _normal_ rhythm, with him regaining consciousness shortly thereafter. The parents had called the Centre while in the ambulance, and they had gone directly from field to the OR within twenty minutes. Laura and Doug had spent the next half hour making sure Michael was stable enough to proceed, but aside from a probable rib fracture from the chest compressions, his condition was as close to ideal as Laura was going to get.

At the time, the ferret cardiologist had lamented the fact that Dave had already left for the evening, and had even considered calling the wolf back in, as he and Doug were the only other physicians with advanced surgical training at the Centre, but when Doug had reminded her about the undertaking their colleague was performing at that moment, she had dismissed the idea instantly. No mammal at the Centre wanted to perform that final task, and it wouldn’t have been fair to the Clawsons...or to Dave, to delay it. She and Doug were more than capable of handling this, and Catherine had agreed to stay on past her shift and be the physician on call if needed.

Laura shook off those thoughts as she manipulated the probe into position. _“Now to fix the problem at its source,”_ she thought to herself as she triggered a small jolt of current into that region of the atrium. The effect was immediate, and every mammal in the room recognized the fibrillation that had been triggered, even those who couldn’t see the X-ray itself, could see the effect in the readout from the ECG, the small jagged peaks in the PR interval clear as day for the experienced staff.

Laura nodded to herself as she watch the heart return to its normal rhythm swiftly after the current was removed, and she repositioned the probe once again.  
  
“Can I get a focus adjustment, Ms. Talon?” Laura asked as she worked to map out the complete region that would need to be treated.

The cheetah nurse made good use of her greater height to cleanly reach over Laura’s head and adjusted the image until it was once again clear enough for the ferret to do her work. In reality Gina shouldn’t have even been on shift yet, but she had been at the game that evening, and this cub was her nephew. Right now, her husband, sister, and brother in law were all waiting down the hall under the watchful and understanding eye of Nurse Uddington. Under most circumstances, the cheetah shouldn’t have been in the OR at all, but when she had started scrubbing in, no one had uttered a word of protest.

As the rest of the staff had expected, Gina had been realistic in her capabilities under these particular circumstances, and had taken up a support role, allowing Oliver and Mina to handle the more paws-on aspects of the operation. The arctic fox and sheep nurses were old paws when it came to ensuring that surgeries at the Honeywell Centre were performed to the highest levels of care. Both were busily handing over instruments, and medications to the two physicians upon, and more often than not, prior to their request.

Laura, and the rest of the staff made sure to occasionally catch the worried nurse’s eyes to give her a reassuring nod, knowing from her scent alone that, although she was maintaining an amazingly professional appearance, she was terrified.

Satisfied that she had found the major source for the condition, Laura took a steadying breath. “All right, I’ve got the region mapped out,” she said as she motioned with her head to the points that she had plotted on the screen. “We’ll start the ablation here,” she motioned towards the top of the right atrium, “and then work our way down towards the AV node.”

“Those first two points are almost certainly part of the SA node, Laura. Are you sure you want to cut it that close?” Doug asked from the head of the table. Although he trusted the ferret implicitly, it was good to voice concerns when they might impact a patient’s care, and

they were both professional enough to not take the inquiry personally.

She also knew that Doug’s concerns were well founded. The sinoatrial node was effectively the body’s natural pacemaker, and responsible for taking the conflicting signals from the body’s sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and determining if the heart needed to speed up or slow down, respectively. The fact that she needed to treat some of the nerves that made up this region was cause for concern at the best of times, but for the treatment to be effective in this case, she’d need to burn away the misfiring nerves if there was to be any hope of curing this cub.

Laura scrutinized the image for a moment before shaking her head. “ _Want_ isn’t the issue, Doug,” she replied after a moment. “The signal cascade is originating right at those first two spots. If I don’t treat those, there’s too great a chance that the underlying issue will resurface later, and it might take more tissue with it next time this happens.”

She didn’t voice the fact that the next attack might not occur in such close proximity to trained mammals with the right equipment. Understanding this unspoken fact, Doug nodded in agreement.

The buck looked over the patient’s vitals and then gave Laura a thumbs up. “In that case, everything looks good. Heart rate is back to nearly normal sinus rhythm...about the best we’re going to get anyways. BP and oxygen levels are all right where they should be, and the sedation is optimal.”

Once again, Laura willed her paws to remain steady as she focused her attention on the screen in front of her. This was the critical part of the operation, and a mistake here could very mean the difference between a new life for this cub, or yet another tragedy to add to the butcher’s bill.

She gave no outward sign of this internal debate as she gingerly worked to reposition the probe to a point just distal of the main SA node. Her attention only wavered when she noticed movement at the entrance of the OR out of the corner of here eye. She relaxed her paws, as she leaned slightly to the side, and a very real smile appeared on her face underneath her muzzle mask, as she saw Jim enter into the operating theater.

The antelope was simply holding a muzzle mask loosely to his own face, he obviously not having had the time to properly scrub in. He took a moment to scan the room, making sure to meet Gina’s gaze and offer the nurse his silent support, before focusing his eyes on Laura and her patient.

“How’s he doing?” he asked after a moment, and Laura gave a small chuckle as she knew full well that her colleague had probably gauged Michael’s condition the moment he walked into the room.

“We’ve got things well in paw here, Jim,” Laura said after a moment, returning her gaze to the monitor, and directing her focus to triggering a radio frequency pulse that would vaporize the offending microscopic portion of the heart that was her target. She focused on both the live image of the heart, as well as the ECG, looking intently for any signs of trouble before she continued. “I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting this when I started today, but we lucked out huge on this one, and I’m not going to leave something like this to chance...or to another surgeon.” she added, allowing some of her smug confidence to color her tone.

There was a real rumble of laughter from the assembled mammals in the room, everyone knowing just how competitive the physicians at the Centre could be. It was all part of the good natured ribbing that served to cement their group bond.

 _“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”_ Laura thought to herself as she once again worked  to maneuver the probe into the correct position to continue treating the misfiring nerve.

Jim shook his head at the ferret, but he couldn’t hide the smile that his eyes so clearly showed was present under his mask. “Did you want me to scrub in and take over, Doug?” he asked as he looked towards the senior physician.

Doug would normally already be home by now; he, Dave and Cat all sharing the 7-7 shift, when the Centre was generally at its busiest. Laura hadn’t even needed to ask for his assistance, as the old buck had begun scrubbing in the instant it became clear the surgery would be required in this case.

Looking up from his equipment, Doug made a dismissive gesture with his gloved paw as he waved away the offer of assistance. “No, Jim, I can handle this. Head downstairs and let Cat go home. We should only be another hour or two.”

“Got it!” he said, before looking over to where Gina stood. “I’ll stop by the lounge and fill everyone in on how things are going.”

“Thanks, Jim.” the cheetah replied, the undertone of fear still present in her voice. When it came to family, it was rare that a mammal could completely dissociate their personal and professional live, and Gina was doing her best to balance the two, but everyone could detect her nervousness.

Jim allowed for a smile to form on his muzzle. Even under the concealment of the mask, it was still plainly evident in his caring eyes. “Don’t worry about it.” he said with genuine amusement in his voice. “We’re the best of the best after all.”

The comment drew a few chuckles, and Laura didn’t look away from her monitor before she replied. “Be careful! You already have enough problems getting through doorways with those horns. A swollen head is just going to make things worse for you. Let Catherine head home for the night.”

Jim laughed at the ferret’s verbal barb, and made to leave the room, before pausing as he reached the door. “Has anyone heard from Dave?” he asked over his shoulder, knowing full well what the wolf would be going through tonight. It had become a fixed routine that mammals would call to check in after performing this final duty. It served as both a way of making sure they were okay, but also giving them a chance to talk with one of the few other mammals for whom this particular breed of grief was a near constant companion.

When he turned back towards the operating table, he saw nothing but shaking heads in reply. Doug was the first to speak, “We had to scrub in almost immediately after Dave left for the evening. If anyone would know, it would be Kate or Catherine.”

Jim frowned at the revelation, his expression displayed clear as day for the mammals in the room as his eyes narrowed in frustration. “I spoke with Kate when I arrived, and she hadn’t heard anything.”

Doug gave an exasperated sigh, “Damn that stubborn wolf.” he said after a moment, and Jim internally agreed with the rabbit. “Why does he insist on doing this on his own?”

Delivering bad news was something that came with the vocation, and every mammal at the Honeywell Centre was more familiar than most when it came to that particular duty. Over the years, formal policy, and concrete rules had morphed to something more malleable and fluid, serving as as set of guidelines and recommendations that allowed each mammal to decide what worked best for them. Doug, Jim knew, tried to sync things up with Grant so that he didn’t have to go it alone, or in a worst case scenario, his mate, Cindy would make the somber journey with her husband.

Back prior to the divorce, Laura had used a similar tactic, and had Jack accompany her, but since he had left her high and dry, she had reluctantly asked for another physician to handle the task. She needed to be there for her son, and everyone understood the importance of this. Juggling their personal and professional lives were a challenge for everyone, but going it alone was simply not a fair option.

Jim was about to let off a string of expletives aimed at his stubborn friend when Laura spoke up. She didn’t look away from the screen before replying, but Jim could see that she had been following the conversation while still focusing on her patient.  
  
“When have any of you known Dave to _not_ volunteer to take an emotional bullet for someone?” she asked rhetorically, allowing both her amusement...and no little frustration enter into her voice. “But you’re wrong though. He did take ,someone with him this time,” she said, glancing up to catch Jim’s eye and gave him a wink. “I spoke with him earlier, and was quite happy to hear that Carol finally talked…” she paused and a contemplative expression could easily be seen on the visible portions of her face, before continuing, “or more probably, _knocked_ , some sense into him.”

The assembled mammals all shared a very real laugh at the statement. Given the Centre’s limited staff, it was only natural that they were, by and large, a tight knit group. Everyone there knew that Dave’s mate wasn’t one to take no for an answer when she put her foot down...weather Dave agreed or not, and Jim was thankful that the coyote had finally done so.

“Good!” Doug said simply after the brief moment of levity. “That one’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’ll get him home safe, and on that note,” the rabbit looked back up to Jim, “Get a move on, Jim, and let Catherine get home herself.”

Jim laughed at the order and he turned to leave the OR, already preparing himself to face the family, but at least comforted by the knowledge that everything was going as planned.

“Shit!”  
  
Laura’s voice called out suddenly across the room, and Jim stopped in his tracks.  
  
That explitave wasn’t something you _ever_ wanted to hear during an operation, and he wheeled around to look over the scene...as had every other mammal in the room apparently.  They all had their gazes locked on to the ferret’s face, but she shared a quick glance with all of them and shook her head.  
  
“Sorry, everything’s fine here,” she said after a moment, cringing slightly at the panic she had so nearly started. “I just remembered something.” She looked away from her monitor and over to Jim.

“Jim, I need a favor.” she said plainly, and Jim nodded in reply, his ears cocking forward as they detected an uncommon emotion in her voice...fear. 

“Sure, what do you need?” he asked, and his curiosity rose as he saw that Laura genuinely looked nervous...but it wasn’t regarding her patient. He could clearly see that Michael was doing fine under his colleague's care.

Laura gave him a wary expression, “Don’t say yes until I tell you what I want,” she said, before taking a steadying breath.

“With something like this,” she motioned towards the cub on the operating table, “I’ll want to be close by tonight, so I’ll probably end up crashing in one of the private rooms.” The ferret once again met Jim’s gaze, and he had a sneaking suspicion at what he was task she would be asking him to perform.

“I...need...you..to...call..my..mother.and.letherknowthatI’llprobablybehereallnight!” she said, firing off the words as quickly as she could.

Silence descended on the room, as the assembled mammals tried to hide their amusement at Laura’s reaction. The fiery cardiologist was not one to back down from anything, and the ferret had been know, on multiple occasions, to jump onto any piece of furniture available, so that she could deliver a stern lecture to any larger mammal when they managed to get on her bad side. Physical size or social status was no aegis against her ire, and both humble Bug-Burga cashiers, and the business mavericks of high society had been on the receiving end of her tongue lashings.  
  
...well, no mammal was safe except one; her mother.

Every mammal at the Centre could tell within five minutes of meeting the older ferret, exactly where Laura’s personality had originated from, and when either female was displeased, they didn’t hold back when it came to letting others know exactly how they had failed to measure up.  
  
Jim had known that, after her divorce, Laura had effectively been left to raise her son on her own. Jack Pawson having taken the opportunity to lay claim to half of the couple’s assets before disappearing overseas. Laura had never told him the full story, but it was obvious that the strain it had caused remained an issue to this day… and to say there was bad blood between the two of them was an understatement of near Biblical proportions. To this day, the antelope pegged the odds at an even 50/50 if the... _very_ creative threats that Laura had made in relation to her ex were in jest, or were more prophetic in nature.

Since then, the Laura  had tried to juggle her responsibilities as mother and physician, but that was a difficult prospect even for a normal medical practice. Life at the Honeywell Centre was a whole different story, and they could all see that it was taking its toll. Having her mother agree to watch Will until Laura could get home in the evening was a stopgap measure at best… one that had continued on for almost a year now, but she was trying to make things work until she could find a more suitable mammal for the position.

Regardless, Jim was more than willing to help, and he was about to tell he so when another voice chimed in.

“Why don’t you have your mom drop Will off at my place?” Oliver asked, and Laura seemed genuinely surprised by the offer. The arctic fox shrugged his shoulders and cocked his head to the side  as he continued. “We live just down the road from you, after all.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, but there was a very real warmth to his voice. “I know Brad and I kinda got the whole parenting thing thrust upon us when we took Hailey in after...well, you know.”

Oliver gave himself a quick shake and subtle ear flick to ward off the memories, and the assembled mammals all knew what he was reliving. The accident that had brought Hailey fully into their lives had come at the cost of a beloved sister and her husband, but the three had seemingly grown close in the intervening months...or at least that’s the story being told by the the seemingly endless array of pictures Brad sent to Oliver to help him through the long nights at the Honeywell Centre.  
  
After a moment, Oliver took a calming breath, and looked back at Laura, and there was no mistaking the sincerity of his offer. “But it’s something that we’ve grown into, and heck, Hailey’s only a year younger than Will. It might be the start of a new friendship for them.”  
  
The fox gave a brief chuckle as another thought crossed his mind. “Also, Brad keeps telling me about these things called _‘week-ends’_ ...” he said with an exaggerated slowness. Almost as if the word was an utterly foreign concept to him, “where he gets two _whole_ days when he doesn’t have to go into the office _at all_ .” The arctic fox theatrically rolled his eyes in mock disbelief before waving a paw dismissively, “I personally think he’s just slacking off, but Hailey does seem to appreciate having at least one father around.””  
  
The assembled mammals shook their heads, and chuckled at the comment; the concept of such a thing was utter lunacy to the staff at the Honeywell Centre.  
  
Laura regained her focus first, and gave Oliver a nod before returning her attention to her patient. “Thank you, Ollie. That really means a lot.” she finally said in a quiet voice.

“Don’t sweat it.” Oliver said, glancing over at the ECG before adjusting to the flow rate of one of the IVs. There was a bit of an amused twinkle in his eyes when he looked back towards Laura, “And don’t thank me just yet. Saturday morning is when we have our special pancake breakfast bonanza, and it’s all paws on deck for that.” The fox gave Laura a knowing wink. “All I’ll promise is that Brad and I will try to get _most_ of the flour out of Will’s fur before we send him home.”

Laura gave a snort of amusement, but didn’t look away from her monitor. “I’ll say thank you now, and depending on the condition of my son in the aftermath, we’ll take it from there.” She paused briefly and met Oliver’s gaze, “But seriously, thank you. It really does mean a lot.”

Laura looked over towards Jim, and motioned with her head towards the door. “Can I trust you to forward the details?” she asked, and Jim nodded in reply.  
  
“I’ll take care of it.” he said, already moving to retrieve his smartphone from his pocket. “I’ll call Brad first, to give him a heads up on the situation.”

“If he says anything other than ‘yes’ just tell him that my chicken pot pie will be off the menu indefinitely.” Oliver said with mock seriousness, but his real attention was now firmly focused back on monitoring Michael’s condition. “Trust me, that will be enough of a threat to ensure he takes good care of everyone involved.”

Jim shook his head and made his way out of the OR, leaving the rest of the mammals to focus on their work.  
  
“Well one crisis averted at least,” Doug said with no small bit of relief in his voice.

“Three.” Laura stated simply, and Doug’s eyebrow arched slightly in confusion. Laura motioned with her head towards the monitor before she continued. “Three crises averted. While we were talking, I managed to treat the first two nodes.” she scrutinized the screen more closely for a moment before making a minor adjustment to the position of the probe. “I might need to go back to the first region, but I want to see how the heart responds to the remaining three before I risk any more tissue so close to the SA node.”

Doug couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh at the statement, but his attention was quickly brought back to the cub in front of him. The mirth from the earlier conversations was once again replaced by the clinical professionalism that embodied the mammals under his charge.

The buck took a moment to examine the live X-ray feed of the cub’s heart, and he nodded in approval at Laura’s work. It would be a while yet before they’d be able to tell for certain, but the operation was past the riskiest part, and somehow he knew that this patient was one that they’d be able to help.

* * *

 

The OR quickly reverted back to a scene of focus as Laura went about treating each misfiring nerve cluster in turn, and already, Michael’s heartbeat was becoming more stable, even when she actively tried to induce the fibrillation. His ECG, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation had all improved markedly as the misfiring portions of the heart were treated, and Laura had begun to relax...which also gave her the opportunity to finally pin Doug down, and find out some answers.  
  
Just as she was about to ablate the final node, when she sighed theatrically, and looked towards Doug at the head of the table.

The rabbit gave a questioning glance towards her, before double checking all of his equipment in case he had missed something. Looking back towards the ferret, Doug held up his paws in surrender.

“Whatever I’ve done, Laura, I’m sorry,” he said after a moment with more vehemence than most would consider normal or sane in this instance, and some quiet laughter echoed over the room, as the buck waited to find out exactly how he had earned Laura’s ire.

Laura’s gaze took on a withering intensity, before she went back to looking at the monitor, and once again set about fixing this cub’s heart.

“I gave you three days to spill the beans, Doug,” she said, her voice carrying both amusement and genuine anger. “I’ve heard from damn near everyone _but you_ about this new plan you have to get some more mammals in here. Since you’re a captive audience here, out with it!”

Doug shook his head and laughed at the severity of Laura’s tone. “There’s nothing concrete at this stage,” he began hesitantly, the details of his plan were still gelling into something concrete. “It was actually Cat and Dave that gave me the idea in the first place.”

Laura paused her ministrations, and cocked her head towards the buck curiously. “Is it about the Rey’s?” she asked, as she ran through the full complement of patients that had been seen over the past week. The Rey’s were far and away the most critical and novel case that the Centre had seen...ever, but the odds were still so stacked against them, that even with her gut telling her that things would work out, she couldn’t help but give in to despair on occasion.

“No, not the Rey’s,” Doug said without hesitation, and there was no mistaking the steel in his voice. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that their privacy is respected until they’re ready to tell their tale.” He shook his head at the notion, and motioned with one paw to encompass the entirety of the Honeywell Centre. “The idea came about as a result of the Fangwell’s visit on Tuesday.”

“That was the tiger and lion couple, right?” Gina asked from the side of the operating room. “The ones from the picture in the lounge?”

“That would be them,” Doug said while making a minor adjustment to the flow of one of the IVs. “It was when I saw their cub doing so well, that I realized that we’ve been idiots when it comes to recruiting.”

The mammals in the room could plainly hear the disappointment in the buck’s voice, and Laura looked over at him with a perplexed expression on her face. “What are you talking about, Doug?”

Doug sighed, “Ever since the Centre was founded, we’ve been focused on the main thrust of the Honeywell’s vision; namely being able to help couples from incompatible species have kits of their own.” His expression became slightly more haggard as he ruminated on the various failures that he had overseen during his tenure as the chief physician. “All of our recruiting efforts have focused on that aspect of our work, but seeing the Fangwells reminded me of something more important.”

The rabbit paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, “Do you know how many cubs have been saved as a result of just that one gene therapy we developed here?” he asked, and looked around the room, to see if anyone had an answer.

When Laura’s only response was a curious glance, and a shrug, Doug continued, “Just over eight hundred, with a success rate better than ninety percent.” He shook his head, and once again everyone could see that he was chastising himself for not looking at this earlier. “That same treatment has been adapted by Donnie, Dave, and Percy to help mammals with cystic fibrosis, SCID, thlassemia, neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses; on and on it goes.” Doug said, and Laura was taken aback by the implications.  
  
Over the years, their work had developed many such treatments, but as they rarely helped to forward the main goal of the Centre, all too quickly they were forgotten. They made sure that all of the information was disseminated in the literature, but after that they were generally too busy dealing with the next crisis to give it a second thought.  
  
“I had no idea before the Fangwell’s visit prompted me to take a look at all the things we _have_ accomplished over the years.” Doug said, and the undertone of surprise in his voice was an oddity for the experienced physician. “It ends up that that one treatment protocol has been modified to repair over twenty genetic conditions, and in some cases those same conditions are on the verge of being eradicated. I couldn’t even get an estimate of the number of kits that have been saved as a result of it, and after the numbers started going up into five digits, I just started qualifying it as _lots_.”

“Holy shit!” Oliver said quietly before ducking his head slightly in contrition. “Sorry!” he added sheepishly, but Doug just laughed at the reaction.

“That was a tame response compared to the language that I was using in my office when I started digging into things, Mr. Wetmore.” Doug said as another round of laughter could be heard from the assembled mammals. “And that was just one treatment protocol. The Honeywell genetic database receives over two million hits per day from all over the world, and in each of those cases, it’s usually a physician trying to help a patient, or a scientist building upon our work, and making the next steps.”

He motioned towards the instrument tray sitting to Laura’s right, Oliver’s paws ready to pass over whatever instrument the cardiologist would call for. “Even that modified hemostat that you and Jim designed for neonatal vascular grafts has saved lives. I contacted Fisher to see if they had any sales figures for it, and they indicated that it has sold somewhere around twenty thousand units over the past three years.”

Looking back towards Laura, Doug cocked his head to the side sightly, “Have you looked at your current h-index, Laura?” he asked. His tone innocent enough, but Laura could tell it was a loaded question.  
  
An h-index was one of academia’s measures for how influential a scientist you were. The bigger the number, the greater the impact of your research. Most researchers were content to be in the high 30’s, with a career in research culminated in you obtaining a score over 50, and even noted scholars only broke into three digits when their work literally rewrote the current understandings of their fields. The fact that Doug was even asking meant that the number was higher than she expected, but she once again shrugged her shoulders and looked to him to provide the answer.  
  
Doug chuckled at the deflection, but he didn’t make anyone wait to hear the answer. “You are up at 87,” the rabbit said without preamble, and even when she was expecting it to be bigger than anticipated, Laura was caught off guard, and she was left gaping at the rabbit under her muzzle mask. “I only rank a measly 56, but Jim’s right up there with you,” he continued, more amused than hurt at being upstaged by his colleague. Doug looked back towards Laura, and the amusement was plainly evident in his expression. “Dave’s close to breaking into the triple digits already, FYI, and Donnie, Beth, Genevieve, Penny, and Percy have been there for a couple of _years_ already.”

“What about Dr. Kent?” Mina asked innocently enough, but Doug shot her a quick glance to indicate that she was spoiling his fun.

Shaking his head Doug continued, “Let’s just say that, if any mammal wanted evidence for why the h-index is not representative of the true value of an individual's worth in research, Jason’s score would be exhibit A.” He looked back towards Laura and shook his head apologetically. “He beats all of us on paper...by a considerable margin,” Doug looked around the operating room, and everyone could see the steel in his gaze. “And that doesn’t leave this room! That prick is hard enough to deal with as is.”  
  
The rabbit shook his head as he once again allowed the details from his research to flash through his mind. “Regardless of that, we were so focused on fulfilling the Honeywell’s legacy, that we...that _I_ lost track of the bigger picture.”

Laura took a moment to consider her colleague, and she could hear the underlying sadness etched into his tone. Doug gave a sigh and shook his head, almost as if he was trying to deny the reality of the situation.  
  
“When David…” he began, but then realized that he needed to clarify things a bit more. “Not our Dave; David Honeywell. When he and Elena asked me to head up the Centre, they already knew that they were living on borrowed time.” Once again the buck lowered his gaze to the floor, obviously reliving the events as if they had happened yesterday, and providing a stark reminder to many of the relatively newer staff that the seemingly distant, almost mythic legend of the Honeywells was not quite so far removed from them as they thought. “Spirits, I was so angry with them back then,” Doug continued, some of that anger reaching up through the years to color his tone, but the sense of personal loss it dragged along with it coloring him even more so. “Two of the greatest minds I’ve ever known, as well as my closest friends; gone just like that.” Doug snapped his digits to emphasize the point.  
  
The rabbit took a moment to adjust the flow rate of the anesthetic before continuing. “Once it became obvious that they weren’t going to survive, Elena came up with the idea for this place.” he said while gesturing to the facility at large with his paws. “When David proposed that I run the Centre, I originally said no.” There was no mistaking the pain in his voice as he brought those moments back to the fore. “Their dream had cost them everything, and at the time, there was a very real part of me that wanted that dream to die with them.”  
  
Every mammal in the room looked towards the senior physician with surprised etched on their faces.  
  
Laura shook her head at the revelation, “You said _no_ ?” she asked, not quite believing what she was hearing. Doug had been the head of the clinic since its inception, and the concept of the Honeywell Centre not being led by the rabbit was so utterly alien, she couldn’t even begin to imagine it.  
  
“What changed your mind?” Mina asked as she placed a pair of forceps into Laura’s waiting paw.  
  
Doug shrugged at the question, but there was also a quiet chuckle coming from beneath his muzzle mask. “It was Elena who talked me into it, and I made her a promise that I’d continue their work for as long as I was able. That vixen had a silver tongue, and neither David or I could ever stand against her charm.” The rabbit once again looked thoughtful as he remembered the details from a decade ago. “I was still mad as Hell, but when Elena said that I was the only mammal they trusted to continue their work; I couldn’t say no. It was the final request of my very dearest friends, and I wouldn’t taint their memory with anything less that my full support.”  
  
“There was nothing I would have loved more than to have been able to help those two usher the culmination of their hopes into this world...but that wasn’t to be.” The rabbit took another deep breath and met Laura’s gaze, “But now I think that promise made me blind to the real value of our work. We were, and are, so focused on making the Honeywell’s dream a reality, but dreams are notoriously difficult to grasp onto, and in being so focused on that end goal we missed the, quite frankly monumental, accomplishments that we’ve achieved over the last decade.”  
  
Laura could see that a fire had been lit in her colleague, and seemingly in herself as well. This had been a week of questions and revelations, and she realized that Doug was right in regards to their collective myopia.  
  
The ferret cocked her head to the side as she considered this...previously unknown aspect of her colleague. Everyone on staff had known that there was a history between Doug and the Honeywell’s, but little more than that, as the buck had never been one to become fixated on the past...at least she had assumed this was the case. The rabbit’s words now told a very different tale, and perhaps he had actually been trapped this entire time in a cage of his own creation.

“What changed things this time?” she asked after a moment. Trying to balance her sense of curiosity with some apprehension about causing Doug any further pain.

Doug gave a very real bark of laughter at the question, before motioning back towards the rest of the clinic. “I’d think that was obvious, Laura.” he said, and his amusement could be clearly heard in his tone, but there was still that residual sadness as well. “Having the Rey’s show up on our doorstep; a fox and wolf couple? I’m not sure if the universe just has a rather twisted sense of humor, or if this is our first real chance at being able to make the Honeywell’s dream a reality.”  
  
He stopped speaking for a moment as he took another steadying breath. “I know logically that there’s nothing more than species to link the Reys to the Honeywells,” the buck shook his head at the ridiculousness of the sentiment, “In many ways, Janet and Tommy are the polar opposites of David and Elana, but I’d be lying if I denied that, seeing those two together just makes me realize how much I miss my friends. When I first met them, they were both just sitting by the window, looking over the city together.”  
  
Doug once again closed his eyes, and took a calming breath. “Spirits, for a moment I could have sworn that somehow, David and Elena were here again. So much of how those two act together reminds me of the Honeywells.” A small laugh emerged from the rabbit, as he considered the silliness of such an idea. “I know all too well that it’s a foolish notion, but it was also both a shock, and are revelation...one that showed me how I was so focused on the end goal of their hopes that I ignored so much of what we have managed to accomplish.”  
  
“Well that ends now,” Doug said after a moment, and his voice regained some of its previous certainty. “Me moping around isn’t going to solve anyone’s problems, and I’ve got ten years worth of achievements to trumpet from the ramparts as it were. I’ve already reached out to several PR firms, and have also been sending out feelers to some of the mammals that we’ve helped to see if they’d be willing to tell their story.” He gave a small shrug as everyone considered his words. “It’s still going to be a while before we can actually get things moving, but we are going to show the mammals of Zootopia exactly how the Honeywell’s legacy is alive and well.”

The group shared a knowing glance between themselves, and Laura was the first to break the silence after shaking her head in disbelief. “Now that you’ve said it out loud. We really have been a bunch of idiots, haven’t we?”  
  
Gina chuckled at the ferret’s comment, and Doug was glad to see that their discussion had at least helped to distract the cheetah from her nephew for a few minutes. “And I think we can go with _driven_ as opposed to idiots, Laura.”  
  
A small snort of laughter came from the cardiologist, as she prepared to examine the misfiring nodes one final time before she’d begin to stitch things back together.  
  
“That does sound better, Gina,” Laura said as she manipulated the probe back to the SA node.”Or at least it could be described as more professional.”

After a moment she looked towards Doug and the rabbit could tell that under her muzzle mask, Laura was smiling. He didn’t need his acute hearing to detect the excitement underlying the ferret’s tone.  
  
“I’ll be setting up a staff meeting sometime in the next week or so to start brainstorming ideas for the short term.” Doug said, as he noticed Laura was starting to withdraw the probe from the cub’s heart. “For now however, we have what looks like a healthy cub on the mend, and for once a plan to move forward.”  
  
Laura didn’t move her gaze from the monitor in front of her, but she nodded in agreement as she started putting her patient back together. The cub was down a few heart cells, but this treatment would provide him and his family with a sense of stability that had been sorely lacking up to this point.  
  
As she once again checked over her equipment, Laura made a quiet promise to herself, to the Rey’s, and to the Honeywell’s themselves.  
  
_“Somehow, we are going to make this work!”_

* * *

 

The remainder of the operation went smoothly, and once Michael was stitched back up, Mina and Oliver wheeled the cub out of the OR, and into one of the private rooms to recover.  
  
For Laura and Doug, there was another task that they needed to perform, and for once it was a happy one. As the two made her way out of the OR, Laura saw Gina crouched down against the hallway wall, the nurse taking several heaving breaths as she felt the after effects of the situation struck home.  
  
“You hangin in there, Gina?” Laura asked as she approached the cheetah, Doug following close behind before reaching up and resting a paw on the larger mammals shoulder in silent support.  
  
Gina took another deep breath before lifting her head to meet Laura’s gaze. The big cat nodded in reply while rubbing her face in an attempt to rebuild her mental barriers, laughing nervously as the pent up stress finally had an outlet...and also to wipe away the tears that had been threatening to fall since Michael’s attack.  
  
“I’ll be okay, Laura.” she said after a minute, “When Michael just collapsed, I thought that this was it. This was how we’re going to lose him.”  
  
She took in a deep breath before releasing it in a protracted sigh, and shrugged her shoulder while motioning back towards the OR with her chin, “I guess it doesn’t matter how long you do this, when it’s your family, the _‘what ifs’_ start taking over.”

“We’re all family here, Gina,” Doug said, and both Gina and Laura had to chuckle at the buck’s immediate switch to a fatherly tone when dealing with, what had so clearly been shown to them only a short while ago, his extended family. “Your fears are ours, and you won’t be facing them alone.”

Laura smiled at her two colleagues, but her eyes focused on Doug for a moment, “I don’t know, Doug. From the sound of things, you’ve been carrying around a lot of baggage and hiding it from us.”

The older rabbit had to chuckle at the comment, and he shrugged his shoulders, tacitly admitting to his subterfuge. “I did say it was somewhat silly, didn’t I?” he said after a moment, but then paused for a moment as he gave the situation some more thought. “For the longest time, I just saw this as being my burden the bear, Laura. Or rather, my family’s burden really.”

Both Laura and Gina’s expressions shifted to one of confusion as they tried to parse the buck’s admission. Doug couldn’t help but see the question on both their visages, and he once again chuckled at the whole situation.  
  
He motioned in the direction of the Rey’s room at the Centre before continuing. “It’s not just me that has been lugging the past along with him. Those two were family in all but name, and that included being godparents to Grant, Melissa, Heather, and Janie.” He sighed again, as the topic once again reached back to a decade ago. “We had always joked that those four were surrogate children for David and Elana, and when it came out that they weren’t going to survive, it hit all of them hard.”

Doug took a moment to lean against the wall for support before shaking his head, as if trying to banish some of the memories. “In a way, that one tragedy started all of them along their current paths. Grant, and now I realize Melissa, both took the most direct one to try and continue the Honeywell’s legacy, but their siblings have all ended up somewhere in the system, trying to make a difference.”

The buck made a dismissive gesture with one paw before pushing away from the wall, “Bah! The important thing is that I finally realized that I was the one wearing blinders, and it’s past time that we all take credit for the miracles that we have managed to perform.”  
  
Doug offered a paw to help Gina back onto her feet...at least that was his intent, until the cheetah towered over the two smaller physicians as she regained her footing.  
  
“On that note,” Doug said, all traces of the earlier melancholy melting away from his tone, “I believe we have some good news to share with some of the Centre’s extended family.”

“One second, Doug.” Laura said, and before the rabbit could get a word in edgewise, the ferret reached out and pinched the buck’s right ear smartly.

“Ow!” he cried out, more out of surprise rather than actual injury, as his paw shot up to cradle the abused pinna. That surprise deepened, when Laura wrapped her arms around him in a quick embrace.  
  
“That was for keeping secrets,” she said allowing some of her trademarked ire to color her tone. It only lasted for a second however, as her voice then softened as she continued to hold onto her colleague, “and this is because I don’t want you to ever forget that we’re all family here. You don’t ever need to walk this road alone, Doug.”

Doug released a snort of laughter before shaking his head and returning the embrace, sparing a glance up at Gina who was shaking her head at the two physicians. The smile on her muzzle a clear indication of her amusement.

“She’s right, Doug,” The cheetah said as she looked down at the pair of physicians. “We’re a bit dysfunctional, and maybe more than a little bit crazy, but we are a family.”

Laura released Doug from her embrace, and then motioned down the hallway to where the lounge was located. “On that note,” she said as she veered in that direction, “We have some good news to share.”

The three mammals entered into the waiting room, and Laura’s nose started twitching as she detected the easily recognizable scent of fear. It covered everything in the room, belying the calmingly soft pastel hues of the rooms walls.  
  
The source of the scent was easily determined, as the group of three big cats were seated together, having moved one of the couches present in the room closer to some of the single chairs. A jaguar and cheetah couple were holding on to each other, their heads bowed down in what might have been a prayer, with another male cheetah sanding behind the couch, his paws resting on the shoulders of the two. Joining them was a female red deer who was kneeling in front of Michael’s parents, adding her support to the group.  
  
Laura was glad that Nancy, another one the Centre’s grief counselors, was present, although for once her services wouldn’t be needed. The ferret was a bit surprised to see that the Rey’s were also sitting in room. Tommy, holding onto the female cheetah’s paw, while Janet sat beside him.  
  
Six sets of ears swiveled in unison towards the three made their way towards the group, and a smile spread across Nancy’s face as she saw the happy expressions on the physician’s muzzles. The deer made a motion with her head towards the female cheetah sitting with her mate on the couch.

Laura knew that this was Gina’s sister, Rachel Hunter, and the ferret had been an almost constant presence in the family’s life, ever since she had diagnosed the condition in their son. Both Rachel, and her husband Chris, whipped their heads in the direction of the three staff members, and everyone could see the fear and worry that was plainly evident in her gaze.  
  
Rachel’s eyes immediately sought out her sisters, and in less than a second, she had apparently ascertained the outcome for her son. Almost as if a valve had been released, the oppressive feeling fled the room, and what could only be described as unbridled joy replaced it.

“Oh thank the Spirits!” Rachel said, and her words served to jar everyone in the room back into the moment. After looking over at her mate, who had placed a paw on her shoulder when he too realized that their son was safe. Rachel sprang up onto her feet and dashed over and wrapped her sister in a almost manic embrace.  
  
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she repeated over and over, as she shed tears of joy. The tension of the day wicking away in an instant.  
  
Gina didn’t say a word and simply held on to her sister, as the remainder of her family made their way over, and added themselves to the embrace.  
  
Laura and Doug took a step back, to give the cats a chance to celebrate on their own before the two physicians would need to give the adults a more thorough report on Michael’s condition.

Nancy and the Rey’s each smiled at the joyus scene, before Janet made a motion for her and Tommy to slip out, so as to give the family some privacy. Nancy, smiled and and nodded her own head in agreement, and made to join the fox and wolf couple.  
  
The trio were stopped in their tracks, when Chris reached over as they tried to pass by and  
  
“Thank you for staying with us,” the jaguar, as his mate released her hold on Gina, and quickly wrapped both her arms around Tommy and Janet, Chris repeated the act with Nancy, and there was no mistaking the elation that both parents were feeling.  
  
Rachel released her grip on the Rey’s but she kept on paw on each of their shoulders, and the cheetah ran her gaze over the couple before settling on Janet’s face.  
  
“You two do what you need to do for your own pup,” she said, her tone both warm, yet once again, that trace of fear could be heard underlying her words. The big cat, motioned with her paw towards where they knew their son was being taken. “You never stop fighting for them; neither of you!”

Those final words were directed towards Tommy, and the multi-hued fox nodded his head in understanding, while at the same time, taking the opportunity to draw Janet even closer to him.  
  
Janet gave a small sniffle as the implication of the words filtered through her consciousness, and her free paw move to cover her abdomen. Tommy noticed the gesture, and moved his own paw to cover hers. Every mammal in the room could see that the two realized what was at stake for them, and although the two feared the uncertainty that lay ahead, this was a battle that they would not back down from.

“Thank you, Rachel,” Tommy said after a moment, and Janet smiled as she looked down at where their paws rested. “And we won’t stop!”  
  
The last words were spoken with a conviction that Tommy rarely showed outside of when the two were alone together. Janet knew that, for so much in his life, Tommy lived in a world where he knew that he didn’t have a full understanding of how things worked beyond what was needed for him to be able to use them.  
  
For things that he felt were important, he would devote seemingly endless hours towards their understanding, but on topics that lacked that internal motivation, he tended to be uncertain, and hesitant to provide a firm answer.  
  
Her smile broadened as the implications became clear to her. There was oh-so much that Tommy was unsure of in this world, but there were also things that the fox had no doubts about. When it came to her, and to their pup, there was no mistaking how much importance he’d placed them.

The realization made her think back to conversation with Doctor Hawthorne earlier. She had laid out all her doubts and fears for their pup’s future, but listening to the conviction in Tommy’s voice, even for just those four words, was enough to make them seem as though they were the improbable future...as opposed to the inevitability that she feared.  
  
“Thank you,” she said softly, and the cheetah once again wrapped both her and Tommy in an embrace.  
  
Just before releasing them, Rachel spoke, her voice just a whisper, “Be strong!”  
  
The big cat nodded at the pair, and the Rey’s took the opportunity to leave the lounge, neither one of the willing to release each other as they made their way back to their room. Janet took a moment to look back towards the waiting area, and she smiled knowing that at least one family was getting good news today.  
  
_“And our turn will come, as well”_ she thought to herself as she gripped Tommy’s paw all the more tightly. Their pup’s journey was fraught with uncertainty, but Tommy was right, neither of them would stop.

* * *

 

Back in the lounge, both Laura and Doug had also been inundated with embraces by the big cats. The gratitude and relief that they all felt was a joy for the two physicians to behold, and they didn’t even try to maintain their professional demeanor.  Today had been a true victory, and it was something to be treasured for everyone involved.  
  
After a few shared minutes of joy, the assembled mammals were once again seated, as Laura and Doug prepared to give the parents all the relevant information about Michael’s condition, and how things were going to move forward. Both parents faces were still beaming with joy and relief, and for once neither Doug, nor Laura were going to be the bearer of bad news for the family.  
  
“You already know how things went in broad terms,” Laura began once she knew that she had everyone’s attention, “and the operation went exactly as planned.”

The cardiologist used a nearby keyboard and brought up several images on one of the waiting room’s flat screen displays. Normally, this kind of consultation would be done in private, but as the only mammals in the room were directly involved in Michael’s care, there was no need to find a more private space.

She briefly went over what had been done, and made sure to give both cats a chance to ask any questions they needed to. As she was wrapping up her description Gina brought over a tray laden with various sized coffee mugs for the assembled mammals, and Laura nodded in thanks as she accepted one of the smaller ones before continuing.  
  
“I’ll be keeping an eye on him overnight, and I want to run a few tests tomorrow,” she said, and took a small sip of coffee, more to moisten her mouth than any real need of caffeine. Hours of standing in the OR always left their mark, and some dehydration was almost a given. “As long as I don’t see any major issues crop up, he should be ready to go home tomorrow evening.”

Rachel’s eyes widened slightly at the news, but the smile never left her muzzle, “So soon?” she asked after a moment and spared a glance towards her sister, who simply nodded and motioned back towards Laura.  
  
“Sorry,” the cheetah said somewhat contritely, “I just thought that, with how sudden it was, that he’d need to be here for much longer.”  
  
Laura smiled in understanding, and she even heard Doug give a small chuckle from beside her. “That is a major advantage of this technique,” she stated while bringing up some postoperative information for the two parents. “He’ll need to wear the portable heart monitor for a couple of weeks, but he’s already familiar with it, so there shouldn’t be any issues with him getting used to it again.”  
  
Both parents nodded in agreement, having been through similar tests many times over the years. The portable monitor did exactly that, at regular intervals, it recorded the ECG and blood pressure of the patient, and then forwarded the data directly to the Centre for her to examine.  
  
“In terms of recovery, how long are we looking at?” Chris asked, the relief was plainly evident in his voice, but a parent’s concerns were never completely quashed.  
  
Laura could easily understand where the two were coming from, and fortunately, she had already gone ahead and prepared the relevant material.  
  
“You’ll want to limit Michael’s activity level for about a week, but more than that shouldn’t be necessary. I’d like to see him on a weekly basis, probably for the next two to three months, but afterwards, we should be able to get back to a more normal schedule,” the ferrett paused and brought up several images, along with a detailed timeline, that she had prepared for just such a question. “We’ll be performing regular stress testing for the first month, slowly increasing the intensity. Once I’m satisfied, he should be ready to be back on the pitch in a few months.”  
  
She couldn’t help but laugh as a thought flashed through her mind. “Fortunately, I happen to know a certain cub who actually enjoys running, so he’ll do fine with the treadmill.”

Having covered all the relevant information, she looked towards Doug, who smiled as he checked his watch, “Now, did any of you have questions?” he asked, looking between the two couples. Gina rolled her eyes at the buck, who laughed at the big cat’s expression, “Come now, Ms. Talon, not everyone here is quite as familiar with these things as you, and we don’t want to leave any ambiguity to chance. ” He paused, and was pleased to see Michael’s parents shake their heads.  
  
“In that case, why don’t we get you two settled until Michael wakes up,” he stated as he and Laura stood up and motioned for the family to follow them. “Just so you know, he should be waking up quite soon, and as expected he was breathing quite well on his own before we even left the OR.”

  
Laura, looked back over her shoulder as the group made their way down the hall. “I know we’ve been through this...repeatedly in the past, but just remember that Michael will probably be a little confused initially, but that should wear off quickly. The odds are that he’ll want to go right back to sleep, so try not to get him too wound up.” The ferrett laughed and spun on her hind paw as she looked towards Rachel, “Kate was going to bring in another bed for both of you, so try to get some sleep.”  
  
Doug nodded his head in agreement, but held up one digit towards the big cats. “On that note, if you would prefer to sleep in the adjoining room, just let any of us know.” the buck gave a knowing wink to Rachel, who was fighting back laughter while Chris tried to maintain some air of dignity.  
  
“My snoring is NOT that bad,” the jaguar said dejectedly, before glancing towards Gina, “...but if a bed were ready next door, I’m sure everyone would appreciate it.”  
  
Gina just shook her head at her brother in-law, and without prompting both her and her husband, embraced him.  
  
“Sorry, Chris,” Tom said somberly, looking between Gina and Rachel, and the two sisters nodded in agreement, already aware of what the cheetah was going to say, “There’s only one mammal here that has had a noise complaint issued against them by their neighbor, and that’s you.”  
  
Chris sighed and rolled his eyes, “Oh come on!” he stated, although there was more amusement than annoyance in his tone, “You were the one that showed up and told me to close the window.”  
  
“I was on duty and in uniform, bro,” he said, chuckling at the memory, “and you know full well that, once dispatch saw the address they specifically radioed me to take care of it.”  
  
The somewhat dejected Jagual sighed in resignation, “Fine, I’ll use the second room, but not until Michael’s back asleep!”  
  
The previous amusement was utterly absent from the cat’s tone, and every mammal there, even Doug, noticed the scent of fear that was emmenating from Chris. Rachel immediately reached out to her husband, and the two shared a knowing look between them, and the jaguar took a calming breath as the group reached Michael’s room.  
  
Doug and Laura stepped aside and let Chris and Rachel enter first, and both parents made their way quietly over to where their son was resting. Oliver, was going checking the infusion pump that was supplying the cub with sterile saline, in addition to some mild analgesics that Doug had prepared when the surgery was complete.  
  
The arctic fox looked up towards the Hunter’s as they approached, and he had a warm smile on his muzzle as he gestured towards their son.  
  
“You’re timing is almost perfect!” he said as Chris and Rachel stood beside Michael’s bed, Rachel reaching out to take their cub’s paw in her own.  
  
Looking over to Doug, Oliver motioned towards the patient monitor where Michael's heart rate, respiration and oxygen levels were displayed. “He started showing signs of emergence about three minutes ago.”  
  
Doug nodded, and hopped up on one of the strategically placed steps that littered the Centre, allowing for mammals of a shorter stature to reach their patents no matter how big of a size difference there was.  
  
Laura did likewise, and the ferret took a moment to listen to the cub’s heart, and nodded in satisfaction.  
  
Doug acknowledged Laura’s assessment, and the buck went about checking Michael’s vitals before looking over at the Hunter’s. “Everything is looking very good! He should start to come around in another couple of minutes,” he said, and both parents nodded, as Gina and her husband stood on the other side of the bed.  
  
Doug and Laura took a moment to hop down and back off slightly, as they knew all too well what the family wanted to do.  
  
Surgery was always a frightening prospect, and for cubs, the disorientation, and discomfort were almost always amplified. Anything that could comfort them was a top priority once the medical need were addressed. For the big cats, the stood in a silent vigil, and worked to ensure that Michael their faces would be the first thing that Michael saw when he woke up.

* * *

 

As expected, it didn’t take long for Michael to recover from the anesthesia, and his family members had wasted no time working to comfort the cub. Both Laura and Doug were well aware of the disorientation that can occur when a mammal wakes up from general anesthesia, one of the key aspects was that the drugs tended to prevent any long-term memories from being formed.

In most cases, from the patient’s perspective, mere moments seem to pass between closing their eyes, and waking up in an entire different room, and quite possibly still under the effect of the analgesics used to manage any discomfort that they may experience, with no memory of anything during the intervening minutes, hours, or even days.  
  
The presence of his parents had made the process much easier for Michael, and his expression had quickly shifted from one of fear and confusion, to simply being exhausted. Once he was settled, he had fallen into a true sleep, and the adults had all breathed a sigh of relief that he was on the mend.  
  
After ensuring that everything was well in paw, Laura, Doug, and Gina left the family under Oliver’s watchful gaze.  
  
“You don’t need to leave so soon, Gina,” Doug said once they were out into the hall, and the concern on his voice was plainly evident. “Take whatever time you need.”  
  
The cheetah simply smiled and shook her head, “I’m fine, and I’m not going to leave you short-staffed.” She took a moment to glance back towards Michael's room before shrugging at the two physicians. “He’s in good paws, and there isn’t much that can be done.”  
  
She chuckled to herself as she looked down at the two physicians, “I’m not going to lie and say that I won’t be looking in on him fairly frequently, but I can handle that while still doing my job.”

Laura rolled her eyes at the big cat, but she nodded in agreement, “Eh, it’s going to be the same for me,” she said plainly, “I’ll need to crash at some point, but taking stock of Michael's condition is going to be first and foremost in my mind.”

The three mammals headed down to the first floor of the clinic, and they were surprised to see Catherine reading over a chart at the nurse’s station. The jaguar’s ears flicked towards the group, and she smiled up at them before laughing at the expression on their faces.  
  
“Didn’t Jim tell you that you could go home, Cat?” Laura said, looking up and down the hall to try and determine where the antelope had scurried off to.  
  
Catherine made a dismissive gesture with her paw before standing up and taking a moment to stretch. “Don’t worry, Laura. He did tell me.” A frown started to form on her muzzle, but she quickly regained control and shrugged, “Unfortunately, my plans for the evening went up in smoke...and that might be in a literal fashion.”

Doug’s eyes widened in understanding, “Riley got called in?” the buck asked, knowing that Cat’s mate was with the Zootopia Fire Department.  
  
Cat, nodded, and motioned towards one of the station’s monitors, and all three mammals moved so they could see what was being displayed.  
  
The live image showed what appeared to be a mid-rise complex over in Sahara Square. The top three floors were engulfed in flames, and the ZFD was already on scene, applying dozens of water streams to the conflagration, trying to get the fire under control. All around the scene, the first responders were doing what they could to get the civilians out of danger.  
  
“It’s a four alarm blaze,” she said succinctly, and everyone heard the strain in her voice, and Laura used a nearby chair to hop onto the station’s counter where she wrapped the larger mammal in an embrace.  
  
“He’ll be fine, Cat. Don’t doubt that for a second.” She said, and the jaguar took a shuddering breath as the Laura released her.  
  
“It never gets any easier,” she said quietly, and after another glance at the monitor, she reached over and closed the web browser. Looking over to Doug, she shrugged, “Being here and having something to do is better than sitting at home with nothing to keep the mind occupied.  
  
Doug had a small smile on his muzzle at Catherine’s words, and both he and Laura nodded in agreement, both of them having had similar events crop up over the years.  
  
“Of course, Cat,” the rabbit said while looking up at the duty board, hoping that there would be something to help to keep the jaguar occupied until her mate was safe. It appeared as though two new patients had arrived during Muchael’s surgery, and his ears twitched as he heard a quiet laugh from Catherine.  
  
“I’ve already seen both of them, Doug,” she said, motioning towards the charts that she had been reading over. “I’m just waiting for some test results to come in.”  
  
A confused expression appeared on Laura’s voice as she looked between the duty board and Cat. “Why are you handling both of these?” she asked, once again scanning the region for where Jim had absconded off to. “And where the hell is Jim?”

Cat rolled her eyes are the diminutive physician, and pointed towards where their offices were located. “I asked him to let me take care of things.”

She paused slightly, and checked the time, a frown forming on her muzzle, “He wanted to call Dave, and see how things were going… but that was almost a half hour ago.”  
  
Doug’s face took on a concerned expression, and he motioned with his paw for the group to follow him.  
  
The door to Jim’s office was open, and as they approached, the rabbit started to hear Jim’s voice emanating from within.  
  
“...know, Carol, and I wish to the Celestial’s themselves that there was an easier way.”

Doug shook his head as he heard the worry in the antelope’s voice, and looking over to Cat, Laura, and Gina, he saw that Jim’s words had been clear to them as well. As they reached the door, Doug looked in and saw Jim slouched forward in his seat. Using one hoof to support his head, while the other held the phone to his ear.  
  
One of Jim’s ears twitched towards them, and he tiredly looked over towards the assembled group. Laura was taken aback by just how drained Jim seemed, and the antelope tried to force a smile onto his muzzle to assuage their worry, but it was obvious that, something had happened to the wolf.  
  
“Are you going to be okay tonight?” Jim asked, quietly before nodding his head. “I won’t say I know how hard this was for you, but you were there for him, and I know that it helped. You might not believe it, but…”  
  
Jim’s voice trailed off and Laura moved closer to the antelope. She could just make out the tone of Carol’s voice emanating from Jim’s phone, but it was too quiet for her to make out the words.  
  
Jim sighed, and rubbed his eyes with his left hoof, “No, don’t apologize for that. You have every reason to be ticked at Dave, and me,” he gave a small chuckle and shook his head, but it wasn’t enough to completely banish the worry that was evident on his face. “In fact, if you didn’t threaten us after what you went through, I’d be asking what you did to the real Carol.”  
  
Although she couldn’t make out the coyote’s response, the fact that Jim’s expression grew more relaxed gave her hope that his words had helped. Looking back towards the door she saw Doug’s ears relax slightly, and both Catherine and Gina shared a relieved glance at each other.

“Look, if you need anything, and I do mean anything, just let me know, okay?” he said, and although there was still worry in hs tone, it was nowhere near as pronounced as it had been previously.  
  
Laura waved a paw to get Jim’s attention, and motioned for him to pass the phone to her.  
  
He nodded in understanding, “Just once sec, Carol. Laura wants to speak with you.” He listened to Carol’s response for a moment, before nodding, “Got it, and I know you don’t feel it right now, but thank you for getting through to him...finally. Both of you, be safe.”

Jim passed the phone down to Laura, before he simply collapsed in his chair. He looked over and saw Doug’s worried expression, and waved the concern away, before he motioned for them to give Laura some space. Catherine paused for a moment, as she met Laura’s gaze, the unasked question plainly evident in her expression.  
  
Over the years, the social bonds of the staff and associated families had solidified in numerous ways, and both Laura and Catherine counted the coyote as a personal friend. Laura could clearly see the worry present in the jaguar’s eyes, and she nodded towards Cat, mouthing, “I’ve got this.”  
  
Catherine nodded in reply, but the worry didn’t leave her face as she made to catch up with the rest of the staff.

The ferret was thankful for there being some privacy, and she raised the phone to her ear, “How you hanging in there, girl?” she asked, wanting to give Carol a chance to vent if she needed it.  
  
There was only silence for a moment, before she heard a shuddering breath over the line, “Why didn’t he tell me, Laura?” Carol asked, and Laura could hear the pain coloring her voice. When she again spoke, there was also some real anger to her voice, “Why didn’t you, or Jim, or Doug...anyone! Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad?!”  
  
Laura sighed, and rubbed her forehead at the coyote’s words. “Carol, you know Dave better than anyone else out there,” she gave an exasperated snort as she thought about the lengths her colleague would go to to spare another mammal some pain. “Hurting you is the last thing that he would _ever_ want to do.”  
  
She leaned against a nearby wall for support, and she could hear some quiet sniffling over the phone, “Tonight,” she began, but then stopped, unsure how much information she should share about the Clawsons. “...I don’t think that what happened tonight is how he normally handles things, and I know you might not believe this, but you being there for him; it would have been ten times worse if you hadn’t.”

“Fucking hell, Laura,” Carol’s anger burst out of her with the expletive, but Laura could also hear that the coyote was on the verge of tears. “I’ve seen so much shit over the years, atrocities where mammals are at each other’s throats, and I’ve placed more than a few names onto the butcher’s bill, make no mistake...but what I saw tonight...” her words were choked off, and this time there was no mistaking the anguish in her voice. “When he turned around...”  
  
Laura sighed, as Carol’s words trailed off, and only a quiet sobbing could be heard. The ferret gave Carol a moment before she replied, “Carol, you did everything right, and it’s only because of you that I know that Dave will heal. Do not doubt for a second that that wolf would walk on water if you asked him.”

Laura paused for a moment, before speaking. What she was about to say might have a tragic cost, but both Carol and Dave were friends, and hearing Carol, the seemingly tough as nails army brat so beaten down...she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she didn’t let her know.  
  
She silently prayed that her instincts were right, and she took a calming breath before continuing, “Carol...I know that he loves you so much that, if you were to ask him to leave the Centre, he would.”  
  
Once the words were spoken, there was no way to take them back, and unbidden the seemingly endless mantra she had been forced to chant over the years, forced its way to the forefront of her mind.  
  
_“Ms. Doe, I have some very bad news…”_

An endless parade of faces flashed through her mind. The years had managed to rob her memories of the fine details for many of the patients she had been unable to help, but their eyes were always in sharp focus, and Laura remembered the moment when those eyes became utter voids, bereft of any sense of life. Not only had these would be parents lost a child, but they all sacrificed a piece of themselves.  
  
There was a sharp intake of breath over the line, and Laura heard Carol trying to regain control.

“I know he would, Laura,” Carol almost sobbed, “I’ve known that for years now...but I can’t… I won’t do that to him.”  
  
The first inklings of a fire could be heard in the Coyote’s voice, and Laura nodded and gave silent thanks that she had been right about Carol’s feelings towards her mate’s calling.  
  
“What can I do, though?” Carol said quietly, and Laura wished that the coyote was in the room with her.  
  
“You’re doing enough right now, girl.” Laura said, and she meant every word. “This isn’t something to brush off...and I’m not going to lie, the two of you _need_ to talk about it, and not just about him!” Laura allowed some of her trademark ire to color her words, but she softened her tone as she continued. “I was serious when I said that the last thing Dave would want to do is hurt you, but he has, and he needs to realize that.”  
  
She could hear that Carol had calmed down somewhat, and she truly hoped that the coyote would do what was needed for both her sake and Dave’s.  
  
“That’s something for tomorrow though, “ she said after a moment.  
  
Carol gave a weary sighed in reply, “Yeah, I managed to get him into bed after slipping him a mickey, so a serious talk isn’t in the cards...and Spirits, Laura, there’s a part of me that’s afraid that the real Dave won’t come back from this.”  
  
“Trust me, Carol. He will! You both might need some help along the way, there is nothing I know of that will keep the two of you apart” the ferret smiled, as she made a final jibe to try and improve Carol’s mood, “...except for when the two of you destroy all your furniture in the process of showing the world just how impossible a task it is to keep the two of you apart.”  
  
There was a snort of genuine laughter over the line, which was an improvement, but real healing would take time.  
  
“Did you hear that from Jim or Dave?” Carol asked, already having decided who the most likely candidate would be.  
  
Laura rolled her eyes at the question, “Like you need to ask.”

“Jim!” both females said at the same time, and Carol sighed, but her tone didn’t fully revert back to its earlier state.  
  
“Thanks, Laura,” Carol said softly, “I should head upstairs myself.”  
  
“Take care of yourself!” Laura admonished lightly, and she managed to hear a small laugh as Carol disconnected the call.  
  
Although she was still concerned for the two canines, the two of them were probably past any real danger point. After pocketing Jim’s phone in order to return it, she made her way back towards the nurse’s station. Doug was in the hall with Nurse Uddington, looking over some test results the bison had delivered. Looking past the two of them, she could see, that Catherine seemed to be just taking a call, and the ferret took it as a good sign.  
  
She just reached Doug, and was trying to read the results over the buck’s shoulder, when she heard Cat’s voice getting louder in the background, and the three of them all looked towards the Jaguar.  
  
“Riley? But you’re safe, right?” The jaguar’s tone caused a shiver to travel down her spine, but she was glad to see that, Cat appeared to give a sigh of relief. “Okay, do you have any idea how many, and where they’re being sent?”

“Any idea what’s going on, Kate?” Laura asked, confident that Cat’s mate wasn’t in any real danger.

The bison looked down at Laura and shook her head, “No idea,” she stated simply before leaning over the counter of the station to glance at the workstation’s monitor. She shrugged, and looked back at the two diminutive physicians. “Nothing’s come through from General, so it might not be too bad.”  
  
“It’s bad!” Cat said as she joined the group, “Riley wasn’t sure what happened, but the building collapsed.”  
  
Doug was about to speak, when Cat waved the comment away, “Riley was sure that they managed to get everyone out of the building before it gave way..well at least they think they did.” The jaguar just shook her head trying to piece together the narrative her mate had relayed. “I don’t know how, but when the building collapsed, the debris caused a lot of damage, and somehow there’s a massive pileup on the freeway.”  
  
The cat motioned towards the east, “The ZFD has no real estimate of the numbers, but Riley thinks Grace Memorial is going to get slammed.”  
  
Doug considered the information, and the buck shook his head, “No, Grace only has a bare bones trauma ward, and their ER is going to get filled fast.”  
  
The buck looked a Kate, and there was real concern written on his face. “Kate, would you please get everyone together, and check that all the procedure, and operating rooms are stocked?”  
  
“You’re getting a bad feeling about this too, aren’t you, Doug?” Laura asked, and she was already experiencing a foreboding dread that she would be foolish to discount.  
  
Doug simply nodded in agreement, and Kate trotted off to see about making the Centre ready call-up if they were needed.  
  
There had only been two times where they had needed to open their doors to help relieve the primary hospital network’s backlog. Once was shortly after the Centre had opened its doors, when a massive storm had devastated the docks, as well as a good chunk of Tundratown.  
  
The second time was during the savage mammal crisis, and those were days that no physician wanted to dwell upon. The truth was that it hadn’t taken all that much for the civilized veneer of their society to be stripped away, as old prejudices came back to the fore.

 _“Hopefully, we won’t be needed,”_ Doug thought as he moved to check the supply room to ensure that things like suture kits, and sterile dressings were on paw when they needed to be, regardless of the species that came through their door.  
  
Just as he reached the door, his ears shot up, and angled towards the entrance to the Centre. The sound was faint, but unmistakable, and growing louder with every passing second.  
  
“Guys!” Jim’s voice called from the lobby, “You need to get out here!”  
  
The antelope’s words just confirmed what Doug already knew, there were sirens approaching...and a lot of them.

* * *

**End Notes:**

Due to this being so late, I’m going to cheat, and use some of the research that I did for the latest Science Discussion thread. For those who are interested the voice chat portion was recorded, and can be found on ZNN’s YouTube channel. Both AO3 and FF tend to not like URL, but I’ll try to make it work (www(dot)youtube(dot)com/channel/UCyHjRVfDSuzRd8liTXKWezQ).  
  
Before I go into the science notes, I do have something that I’d like everyone to think about. The major medical issue in this chapter was clearly Michael’s atrial fibrillation (AFib), and this caused me to think about how much progress has been made from a medical perspective of the past few decades.  
  
One of the biggest changes that has come about in recent years is the not-quite ubiquitous placement of automated external defibrillators (AED) in many public spaces. I will be blunt, these things save lives, but they are magic, and the unfortunate truth is that, when someone goes into cardiac arrest outside of a hospital...the odds are not in their favor.  
  
A recent study looked at the public’s perception of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the results were...well off. The participants firmly believed that over 75% of patients who go into cardiac arrest will be walking out of the hospital on their own two feet with no long term after effects.  
  
...The truth is that only about 10% of patients will have that outcome.  
  
Modern media has a history of fudging the details when they get in the way of the story, but this has lead to some real disparity between Hollywood and reality.  
  
I’ve mentioned before the inaccuracies that often work their way into media. There’s a reason why my lab would go to the grad lounge on Monday or Thursday nights when either Bones, or CSI was being shown, and we had a very in depth drinking game for when we watched the show.  
  
Note: Categories such as, he/she just trashed at $250,000 mass spec, or they must have a time dilation effect going on, because that analysis takes 52 hours, were very common.  
  
But those shows are not there to teach, they’re to entertain...but sometimes that can lead to skewed expectations.  
  
Take the crash cart. How many times has a TV show shown a patient flatline (asystole), only for the valiant efforts of the doctors and nurses to culminate by a sudden cry of “CLEAR!” followed by the patient’s heart instantly reverting to a normal rhythm.  
  
In reality, that’s not how things work. A heart that has ceased to beat (asystole) cannot be shocked back to life. The only hope is to keep administering chest compressions, and administering a vasopressin of some kind (epinephrine, atropine ect), and hoping that the heart starts back up again, or at least reverts to a rhythm where defibrillation.  
  
You’re probably reading over this and thinking, why even bother?  
  
Because, the actions you take in the moments after someone suffers cardiac arrest, you are literally their only chance. The odds may be small, but I am not exaggerating when I write that they go from miniscule to small...and if that was one of your family members on the ground, you’d do anything in your power to save them.  
  
This is no different.  
  
Please, get trained in first aid and CPR. Many courses now include instructions on using the AED, and like I said those have been real life savers. Not all cases involve the heart not beating at all, and for those whose heart has fallen out of rhythm, just a single jolt can help to fix the problem...and the faster someone starts treating the victim, the better off they will be.  
  
Please, get trained, and I’ll even go one step further and say, watch some YouTube videos in the meantime. Read some first aid manuals, heck scour the AED manufacturer for instructions.  
  
If you are on the scene, and someone with training identifies themselves, back off and offer to help. I am not exaggerating when I say that CPR is exhausting, and having a rotating crew is a lifesaver.  
Even in a worst case scenario, where it’s only you who can help, follow the pictures on the AED. It will not let you administer a shock if the victim has a stable rhythm, or if they have flatlines. Regardless, scream for help, but at least try. Play Stayin’ Alive in your head (about 104 beats per min, and CPR should be around 100-120 compressions per min), stack your hands over the sternum lock your elbows and use your body weight to ensure that you get at least a 5cm compression. The scary thing is that, you may very well feel something give inside their chest, and the odds are it’s a rib. DO NOT STOP!  
  
Yes, the feeling of it may cause nightmares (it did for me...and still does), but keeping those compressions going is the only way that they’re going to have any hope.    
  
Many regions have good samaritan laws that will protect you so long as you are trying to help to the best of your ability...and if someone is in full cardiac arrest...I actually have a hard time thinking of how you could make the situation worse outside of something from the Three Stooges, and you being there and doing something is the best chance that they have.  
  
So with that, I’ll go into a...well a cheat version of **Science Time!**

 

As this chapter was so delayed, I’m just going to make use of the last Zootopia Science Discussion, where the topic was:

  
**The Next Generation: From Conception to Adulthood, What are the Costs of Sentience?** **  
** **  
** This time around, things can really branch out, as this topic not only deals with the biology side of things, but also includes elements of social science. There’s an old saying, “A child does not grow up only in a single home”, and this would be even more true in a society like Zootopia.

In our society, we are all one species, but have different cultural and behavioral norms that work in concert to influence children as they grow. Just look at how something like basic education is handled around the world. Everything from the topics that are included, to the performance expectations for each child vary wildly. I remember a documentary back in the 1990’s that was looking at how education is handled in Canada and China, and also families who have moved to Canada deal with the differing teaching styles and expectations for students.

I’ll be going into this in more detail when we get to the development and education portion of the discussion, but one comment from a mother who lived in Toronto, but was originally from Beijing highlighted the differing philosophies that lie at the heart of this topic.

When the filmmakers asked her why she went out and purchased every textbook that her son’s school used, but also purchased the equivalent material from back in China, and after school, she would drill the school material for hours. Her reply, “Childhood is a time for work, not play.”

That’s an extreme viewpoint, and a single one at that, but it does show just how different things can be just based on culture.

…Now imagine it for Zootopia. The differences are no longer just cultural, but also based on species. Just the morphological differences are insane to consider, as the world as a whole would look very different for a mouse than for an elephant. Over the millennia, these fundamental differences would seep into every aspect of a mammal’s life, and would continue to be influenced by the environment and populations around them.

**r/K selection theory: Would civilized mammals put all their eggs in one basket, or go for quantity over quality?**

This is an interesting way in which different species have evolved to increase the chances that their genes will be the ones that are present in the population long after they’re gone. Across almost all mammals (and also every other kind of animal or insect), the debate boils down to what it termed r/K selective theory.

When we look at survival and reproductive strategies, two main groups can be teased apart; those for whom quantity is a priority, and those where quality is the most important aspect.

Basically, reproduction takes energy…a lot of it actually. What this means is that, an individual is making an investment towards the survival of their offspring, and consequently their genes. So how does one go about doing that? When we examine mammals in particular, two strategies become pretty obvious.

  1. Have a large number of offspring, but make little to no effort to ensure their survival
  2. Have a small number of offspring, but invest additional energy into ensuring that they have the best chance for survival



In the end, it really comes down to the question of, does a species want to put all of its eggs in one basket, or do they try to beat the reaper by reproducing faster than nature can kill them.

What we see in general is that, smaller mammals tend to favor r-type strategies, and this can be plainly seen in species like rabbits and other rodents. Common traits that we see in these species are small body size, short gestation period, a short natural lifespan, rapid maturity, and fast reproductive cycles.

Depending on where you live in the world, you may have seen rabbit nests in your yard, or in an open field. As was alluded to in the film, bunnies are very good at multiplying, but contrary to what we see in the film, in the wild, rabbits are among the most hands off parents you can imagine.

One common scenario that happens when people stumble across a rabbit nest is that they’ll see a pile of kits, but no sign of the mother. This can lead to problems, as people will mistakenly assume that the mother has either run off, or has met some grisly end.

The odds are however that this isn’t accurate. Rabbit mothers usually only visit their nests about once or twice a day. They show up, nurse their kits and then they head off to continue foraging. This contrast with a lot of other mammals, where the mother (or in rare cases father) keep a close watch on the den/nest/litter, and in the case of the mother, probably feeds the young several times a day.

For rabbits, they’ve evolved to increase the survivability of their genetic lineage by just reproducing constantly. Just the law of averages says that at least a couple will survive to adulthood, and then the cycle begins again.

Now that’s a bit of an extreme example, but something similar is observed in many r-selected species. Since the species focuses more on making lots of young, the adults quite literally can’t focus much energy towards any individual offspring, and tend to just do the minimum required for them to be successful.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have K-selected species, and once again there is a great deal of variability in exactly how much time and energy the parent(s) are willing to devote to their offspring, but the overall strategy is to have a very small number of young, but be utterly focused on ensuring their survival.

We see this most frequently in larger mammals, where single births are more common. The size alone is a major determining factor here, as in some cases, having multiple fetuses in the uterus can be a real threat to maternal or offspring mortality. In addition to this, K-type species tend to have long life spans, longer period before reaching maturity, slow reproductive rates (and some VERY long gestation periods), and a better survival probability in environments with limited resources.

Species like humans, whales, elephants, and large ungulates are among the classical K-type species, and for humans in particular, just look at the resources that are devoted to raising a single child. As opposed to the rabbit, where the mother is effectively absent for almost the entire process, human children take decades to mature. Even for species like horses, they may reach sexual maturity after about 12-18 months, but their development continues for up to 6 years (although hooves-on parenting does not involve this much time).

For these K-type species, their offspring tend to be the focus of the adult’s energy and attention. For them, the loss of a single offspring represent a potentially catastrophic loss for the individuals involved. Also, unlike in the case of r-selected species, there is a greater probability that a larger community will be involved in the rearing of young.

That last point brings out a very interesting point to consider. Although r/K-theory tends to focus on the extreme ends of the spectrum, there is very much a range of possibilities for how individual species will handle the task. In nature we see many species where individuals can show traits of both r and K-selection, and as such end up somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Take wolves for instance. When we look at their reproductive strategy, every female is capable of producing large litters, and the offspring reach sexual maturity very quickly. On the surface, this would seem to indicate an r-selection strategy, but that ends up not being the case on a species level.

Why, you might ask?

Does every wolf in a pack reproduce?

In this case, although the individual mammals are indicative of an r-selection, the fact that there are usually only one breeding pair per pack, combined with the additional support in raising the pups by the remainder of the pack, they represent something more akin to a K-type selection.

As another extreme example, look at tortoises. Most of these species can have clutches with dozens of eggs, and the parental involvement is nil…quite literally nil, as the parents tend to lay the eggs and then leave. Only returning when it’s time to breed again. Both of these traits are more typical of r-type selection, but when we look at the developmental time and average life expectancy, this is soooo not the case.

Giant tortoises can live for well over a century, with at least one individual thought to be about 250 years old. Additionally, they can take up to thirty years to reach sexual maturity. So how does all this affect Zootopia?

One thing to note it that, overall when a species becomes communal, there is a trend towards K-type selection. Quite simply, the ability of the adults to share resources (including time) towards raising, not only their young, but also help with other members of their community, lends itself to a higher survival rate across the board.

In the film, this is very much what we see. In the city, families are generally depicted as having a small number of offspring, with one or two visible in most scenes. Additionally, the increased lifespan alluded to in the film, along with a significantly protracted juvenile period also show a transition towards a K-type selection.

What we have seen about their society is that there truly is a cooperative element to raising children, regardless of the species of the individuals. Everything from healthcare, to medicine, to law enforcement, shows a conscious effort to provide support and training to offspring. There are almost certainly, big exceptions to this, and those could run the gamut from biological reasoning, to cultural expectations.

We’ll go into a bit more details about this when we look at interspecific hybrids, but for now, I’d guess that for most mammals in Zootopia, not only is a support structure present at the local, regional, and national levels, but that, in most cases, the various mammals choose to accept this help.

In all probability, there may be cultures that emphasize isolationism, and would shun outside culture being “forced” on their offspring, so there may be a specialized parallel system in place. A real-world example of this can be found in some of the more conservative religious communities, but given the rather metropolitan nature of Zootopia, it would be a minor percent of the population…and probably only a small percentage of even the relevant species.

In terms of r/K selection, there is the one big exception to this trend, and it’s a rather scary one all things considered.

…Bunnyburrow

Yes, from a survival standpoint, Bunnyburrow represents a grave threat to the entirety of Zootopia. The rabbits in Zootopia appear to have the utter worst combination of traits in terms of long term survivability. Not only do they exhibit lifespans of a similar length of other mammalian species, along with a family unit that does nurture offspring to a similar level as other species, but they also have apparently maintained the reproductive rate of r-type selection.

Give that a thought for a moment.

If this were to happen in nature, the population would rapidly exceed the carrying capacity for the geographic region (carrying capacity is a measure of how many individuals an area can support), and by doing so, they would either suffer from a cataclysmic die off, or would squeeze out other species, and win conflicts simply by reproducing faster.

Beware the bunnies!

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll cut things off there...partially because I want to get this chapter up, but also so that I can cheat again if it’s needed ;-)
> 
> For those who are interested, keep an eye on the Zootopia subReddit, as the next science discussion will be happening sometime in June. The topic this time is:
> 
> Medical Research and Drug Discovery in Zootopia: What to do when the lab rats are sentient?
> 
> Once again, I’d like to thank all of you for sticking with this story, asking me questions, and (hopefully) forgiving me for taking so long. 
> 
> I’d also like to thank everyone who was there during this rather difficult time. You all know who you are, and I know I made plenty of mistakes, but we all came out on the other side. Perhaps a bit singed, but still standing. 
> 
> As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments...and I will work to get chapter 16 done well before November, and I’d like to say July...but I’ve learned no to tempt the Demon Murphy too often.


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